Antisocial Behavior
by Grey-X
Summary: Cinderella and Lady Tremaine... With these two, it's always been a case of one having an absolute advantage over the other. But what happens when a grisly twist of fate puts the two of them on equal footing, and the lingering animosity between them boils over? Answer: It won't be pretty, but it will be pretty hilarious. Guest-starring Shadowcat, Deadpool and the Blob!
1. Getting Killed Out There

Antisocial Behavior

A very disturbing Cinderella story

Chapter 1: Getting Killed Out There

3-29-2016

By Grey-X

Disclaimer: Cinderella and all other characters that appear in this story are the property of Disney. Including the Marvel Comics and Star Wars characters. If you still got a hair up your ass about that all these years later, go eat a bowl of dicks.

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The resplendent, awe-inspiring castle that had come to be widely known as Cinderella's… It served as a beacon in the young princess's kingdom, a steadfast symbolization of overcoming hardship and never giving up hope. And in the years since marrying Prince Charming and being crowned, Cinderella had strived to spread that message, those simple truths, in what ways she could. It had started with her first few days as princess when being charged with preparation of a banquet. And on this particular starry, beautiful night, she had decided to take a page out of fellow princess Belle's book and invite certain children into her home, hoping that by reading them inspirational stories, they too would continue to persevere.

It had taken Cinderella about fifty-two minutes and twelve seconds to realize that, in this instance, trying to be inspirational wasn't the smartest idea.

First, it was a matter of the particular children Cinderella had invited in the first place. A perfect storm of youthful energy, exploding with the ferocity of a shockwave from a mile-tall Alice falling on her ass. This began to be apparent when the daughter of a fellow princess, Melody, just _HAD_ to go swim laps in the castle moat. And once that one little bugger was fished out, then Cinderella had to go chase down the Lost Boys from Neverland wreaking havoc in the castle's kitchens. _HER_ kitchens, damnit. _NO ONE_ screws around in Cinderella's kitchens! And once _THEY_ were corralled, there was the matter of getting Vanellope Von Schweetz off the tops of the towers, as she gleefully glitch-teleported from one to the next.

But in time, Cinderella got all the little brats rounded up and under control. Using, of course, her bountiful determination and spirit, some help from her mouse friends. Oh yeah, and…a lightsaber that Princess Leia lent her earlier. Don't ask about that last part. Just…don't.

So at last, Cinderella had them all in the library, doing what Disney Princesses tend to do. Read to kids, and stuff. And for a while, it was working. All the children seemed to be genuinely interested in the stories Cinderella had to share. But there's a subtle art to making sure kids as hyperactive as the ones gathered around Cinderella right then _STAY_ interested. Some fellow princesses like Belle could do it. Others, well…

As Cinderella closed the book, the Lost Boy in the rabbit costume, Nibs, immediately piped up. When one of the quietest Lost Boys does that after only 56.8 microseconds after the closure of a book, you know there'll be problems. "So, the good guys won in the end, but the story ends before we find out what the red-eyed thing in the pod was?"

Trying not to sound flustered, Cinderella said, "Well, Nibs, that particular story ended there. More than one person, well, went to write a continuation, but, uhhh…."

"Ahhh, you know what they say," Vanellope cut in. "Sometimes it's better off not continuing things and leaving things to the imagination. You lot kinda proved that with your sequels, after all," she finished with a malicious grin.

The Lost Boys turned to stare malevolently at Vanellope, but Melody insouciantly said, "Sometimes sequels are necessary to clear up things. Case in point: learning something as basic as the Lost Boys' _NAMES_."

"Hey, at least _OUR_ sequel actually got into theaters," Cubby, the rotund Lost Boy in the bear costume, haughtily noted as he folded his arms. "And the only reason anyone even bothers looking at _YOURS_ anymore is because you share a voice actress with a geeky purple unicorn."

That did it. You do not withhold an invitation from Maleficent, you do not let Shego think there's a chance she'll be cloned, you do not remind Nega Duck if he's no longer Public Enemy #1. And for the love of all that's holy, you DO NOT point out to Melody she has to share her actress with a certain little pony. A fact slowly dawning on all the Lost Boys as Melody's face turned beet-red while steam hissed out of her ears. And to punctuate this little tidbit, she launched herself at Cubby, knocking him back into the other Lost Boys and kicking up what would soon be a huge dust cloud engulfing them all. Occasionally, one would spot a fist or an arm poking out from a brief second, but the sounds of blows being landed, punctuated by pathetic whimpers from the Lost Boys, let one know who was winning.

"You all wanna try saying all this through a face full of knuckle sandwiches!? Huh!? _HUH!?_ " Melody roared as the sound of the asses of Lost Boys being kicked echoed throughout Cinderella's castle.

And Cinderella could only stare blankly at the melee, nonplussed about how everything had deteriorated so quickly. She tried to think of how she could break up the carnage, but Vanellope wasn't making concentration easy. What with her glitch-teleporting all around her.

"And now, who's gonna win this free-for-all?" Vanellope jeered as Cinderella suddenly found Sugar Rush's princess/president/whatever clinging to her back. Then she glitch-teleported to her side. "Bunch of guys in furry fetish costumes to whom bathing is an anathema, or the annoying pony-fish hybrid?" Then Vanellope reappeared on Cinderella's other side, holding some scraps of paper. "Place your bets! Place your bets!" she finished.

Cinderella could only bury her face in her hands. _HOW Belle manages to keep children like this calm and enraptured, I'll never know,_ she thought to herself morosely. But maybe, just maybe, if she could snap all those brawling kids back to attention, she could pull it off. Vanellope, naturally, would be of no help, being someone pertaining to a medium in which violence is always an excellent solution to one's problems. But perhaps, here, a bit of shock value was in order. So with a grimace and a sour look, Cinderella reached into her apron and pulled out the OTHER thing a fellow princess from a galaxy far, far away had lent her. A few quick spurts of blaster fire aimed at the ceiling proved to be enough to make the brawling children freeze. As the dust cloud dissipated, Cinderella could see Melody had Cubby in a headlock while also having her legs wrapped around Slightly's neck. And for whatever reason, Nibs and Tootles were wrestling with each other, as were the Twins. But that wasn't important. All that mattered was she had their undivided attention again.

"Whoa, Miss Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo is packin' heat now. Calhoun would approve," said Vanellope slyly. "Maybe some good can come of this Star Wars thing after all."

"Such…merging of worlds is hardly easy," Cinderella said delicately as she stowed the blaster away. And at last, inspiration struck. The perfect story with which to keep these kids enraptured again. "In fact, that's the moral of a…misadventure of mine from some time ago, where I had to do much more than just jump off a carriage. It was a test of will, a test to see just who Cinderella is really all about…"

"Ooooooh. PLEASE tell me you got to chop someone's arm off with that lightsaber!" squealed Vanellope.

Cinderella shot her another sour look. "Nothing of the sort. In fact, this test of character didn't involve a fight at all. Well, at FIRST it did, but not toward the end..."

"It still involves lightsabers or speeder bikes or killer robots and all that stuff, right?" asked Slightly expectantly.

"Wrong universe, Slightly," said Cinderella. "This had to do with merging with the Marvel Universe. Right after merging, in fact."

"What…would've been the problem with those Marvel guys?" asked Cubby, clearly confused. "They're the guys with all the superheroes, right? Wouldn't they be nice?"

"If you can consider folks like the Punisher and Wolverine 'nice'," Cinderella noted delicately. "But yes, a lot of their heroes are quite nice. TOO nice, in some cases…"

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Cinderella stood outside her old chateau home, staring down awkwardly at a stump typically used for chopping firewood. Oh, not because she would be unwilling to put some elbow grease back into swinging an axe again, far from it. But the fact remained that it wasn't an axe resting atop that stump. Rather, it was an unwieldy looking hammer. Specifically, the legendary Mjolnir, typically wielded by none other than Thor. In fact, Thor himself was there as well, egging Cinderella on about trying to lift the mystic weapon herself.

Despite the god's encouragement, Cinderella wasn't convinced it was a good idea. "Ummm, Thor, I'm honored that you really think I can do this, really. B-B-But… swinging around hammers that shoot lightning bolts just isn't my…thing. I don't see how this could possibly work, a-a-and…"

"Nonsense, Princess!" Thor boomed. "Thou hast proven herself courageous and pure of heart, and more than once. No one can forget how thou was forced to jump from a demonic pumpkin carriage and onto horseback!"

Cinderella could only facepalm, grumbling. "You jump off one carriage, and suddenly everyone lumps you with Kim Possible…"

"The point is, Princess, thou has a noble spirit. Proven by how thou has shared a director with the mighty God of Thunder himself!" Thor went on.

"Technically, that wasn't me, but some live-action reboot version," Cinderella pointed out quickly.

"And more importantly," Thor continued, as if Cinderella hadn't spoken, "though it's true that my universe has been absorbed into this 'House of Mouse', the flipside of that is thou, too, art now a Marvel!"

Shaking her head, finally giving in, Cinderella loudly grumbled, "Fine, fine… I'll give it one try…" Taking a deep breath, she anxiously stepped closer to the stump and grabbed onto Mjolnir's handle, then gave it a good tug. Predictably, it didn't budge, but sensing that Thor wouldn't be satisfied if she quit right then, Cinderella kept at it. Though years of manual labor had toughened her muscles substantially, she was nowhere near strong enough for this. This felt like something even Hercules or Mr. Incredible couldn't budge. Close to calling it quits, Cinderella grit her teeth and pulled with all her might one last time…

And then, to her amazement, the hammer was lifted clean off the stump. Unfortunately, it happened so suddenly, and took Cinderella by surprise, she couldn't keep a good enough grip on Mjolnir. So Thor's hammer slid right out of Cinderella's hands and sailed skyward. Slowly turning around to look up, Cinderella and Thor could only watch awkwardly as the Sea Duck began to plummet far beyond the chateau, leaving a trail of smoke from one engine.

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Vanellope, Melody and the Lost Boys said nothing, giving Cinderella blank stares as she finished recounting her last meeting with the God of Thunder. Until, at last, Vanellope piped up. "So one of Marvel's whacko god-things thought you should get touchy-feely with an electric sledgehammer. Big deal."

"It's not just…meetings like that," said Cinderella quickly. "The merging of worlds affected things in other ways, such as shaping how newcomers to our own worlds view matters. For example, every new princess recruit we get has to view things as a competition…"

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2010:

It was a quiet day with perfect weather in Cinderella's castle, the kind where you have the get-together with your fellow princesses outdoors in the courtyards. But there was one conspicuous absence: their newest inductee, Rapunzel.

And when the spunky, energetic princess made her presence known, it was due to her voice booming down from several stories up. The princesses looked up to see Rapunzel swinging from tower to tower, using long locks of her hair to latch on and do so.

"Woo-hoo!" cried Rapunzel happily, relishing how she had caught the eye of all her fellow princesses. "You don't need to do everything a spider can to do THIS!" she brayed. Right before, because she wasn't looking where she was going, she crashed through one tower window.

As the rest of the princesses awkwardly watched bits of broken glass rain down nearby, Cinderella lumbered off with an exasperated air. "I'll go get a broom. And in case she's unconscious and can't heal herself, a first-aid kit…"

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2012:

This time, we witness someplace well outside the grounds of Cinderella's castle, and there's only one other princess present. And boy, does Merida look like she's in a sour mood. Sensing her frustration, though clueless about what could be behind it, Cinderella walked up and kindly asked, "Hello Merida, is there something troubling…"

"Oh, nothin' really lass. Just that I got a glimpse of that atrocity that they're plannin' to stuff me in for me coronation or whatever!" Merida cut in sharply.

"Oh," was Cinderella short, awkward reply. "Well, it's only for one day, really, and…"

"Ach, and the indignation of having the thunder from my movie stolen by those Avengers buggers will last an eternity!" roared Merida. "A month later, and they're STILL all that anyone's talking out, especially that halfwit archer of theirs, Hawk-Beak or whatever, and his silly little trick arrows…"

"Well, er, it's…not really fair to compare your two movies," Cinderella pointed out, eager to cool Merida down. "After all, this is your first outing, while there were years of buildup to Avengers..."

"And ONE scene spanning five movies to set up that archer who thinks he can muscle in on my act!" Merida spat back. "Does he think he's the only one who can have tricked-out arrows!?" she demanded as she pulled an arrow out and drew her bow. But there was something odd about that arrow, some slender cylinder fixed into the front half. "Got hold of that Darkwing Duck guy, and gave me some pointers on how to make…"

But as she was venting to Cinderella, Merida let her concentration lapse, and her gaseous projectile went flying off. Right into one of the castle towers. Cinderella and Merida could only stare blankly, especially after they heard the king's voice, among many others, scream bloody murder about some ungodly foul smell.

But Merida, being as quick-witted as she was, swiftly came up with the solution. She loosened her quiver, then shoved both it and her bow into Cinderella's arms, leaving her there standing around like an idiot as Merida got out of dodge.

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2013:

This time, our peek into Cinderella's life takes us back into the courtyards for her get-together with the other princesses. And once again, things are broken up by the impulsive antics of their newest recruits. Which would leave Cinderella and the castle's staff with a much bigger mess to clean up. Elsa somehow felt the need to prove she could pull off the classic 'ice slide' trick from comic book lore, and her younger sister Anna was hanging on behind her. The two of them screamed joyously as their ice slide took them speeding all around the courtyard.

"Woo-hoo!" cried Anna as she looked down at all the perplexed princesses. "Anything that Ice-Drake guy can do, my sister can do better!" Elsa was shooting a wry look down at them, too, and unfortunately, this meant neither was looking where they were going, and they smacked full-speed into a low-lying branch and toppled a good thirty feet off their ice slide.

The princess could only stare where they assumed the sisters had fallen with a sickening thud, behind a wall of thick ice. That is, until Cinderella suddenly said, "Cleanup on the frozen aisle!" Which made the other princesses slowly turn their heads to glare at Cinderella in surprise and disgust. Cinderella merely shrugged her shoulders. "What? Someone had to say it."

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She paused briefly, still a little fearful that the children would grow disinterested, but for the moment, she had their attention again. Evidently, tales of all the tomfoolery that stemmed from the Marvel merger hit the sweet spot for these kids. So as any adult exasperated with a bunch of kids that were nearly impossible to get under even a modicum of control would do, Cinderella desperately kept on hitting it.

"So it happened almost right after the merger, and we found ourselves welcoming a whole slew of superheroes and supervillains into our fold," Cinderella went on, and to her utter relief, the kids were listening again. "But it's not as if things weren't already changing in our world before the likes of Spider-Man and the Avengers became a part of it. Many things people like me had once taken for granted…such illusions were dashed even before their arrival, making us reevaluate a great many things. And thus, I was finding myself reluctantly taking part of an ugly conflict, one that would reveal a lot about the new world I found myself in, not to mention myself…"

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Preparing for an elaborate event, where there would be pomp and splendor… That was certainly nothing new for Cinderella at this point. Of course, it's not exactly as if that was what drew her to such events, or was what she enjoyed about them. That magical night at the ball that changed her life… Sure, there was the thrill of going to the ball incognito, in a dress that was dazzling beyond all imagination, but it was more about what it could lead to. Seeing past all the glamour, past appearances and spectacle… Cinderella sometimes wondered if, for some people, that was becoming something harder and harder to do as time passed. Especially if so many people were so anxious to see her attend an event like _THIS_ …

Such thoughts plagued Cinderella as she stared blankly into the mirror, almost oblivious to the tugging sensations on her forearms. Oh, just as with so many things that were her duty as a princess, there was no getting out of this. But this was no simple royal duty. Just glancing at her face in her reflection, she could almost believe otherwise. Looking all prim and proper with the new hairstyle she was favoring: primarily parted on the right side, tied up into a high chignon, and a headband leaving her ears uncovered. But for this event, no earrings. Hardly any makeup, either.

As for an eyeball-catching dress provided by a fairy godmother… On no no no, not tonight. Cinderella morosely looked down at the silvery-white robe she had on instead, a little flustered about what was concealed underneath. She didn't have much longer to dwell on that, however, as that tugging distracted her yet again…

"C'mon c'mon, got make sure this is secure," groaned Phil, the bombastic little satyr who had once trained Hercules. His hooves were firmly planted on the vanity as the last-minute preparations were made. He had been providing instruction for a good six months to his latest pupil: herself. At last, Phil felt that the silvery-blue boxing glove covering her right hand was snug enough. More than snug enough, as far as Cinderella was concerned; it felt a hair away from cutting off circulation. "Six months we've been at this, dollface. Six whole blasted months. Well, tonight's the payoff, sister. Tonight, you gonna be the last princess standing."

Cinderella sighed, thinking back to the months spent with this obnoxious little satyr. Those months certainly hadn't been easy. Sure, after years of being treated like a slave in your own home, just about anything would be an improvement. Still, six solid months of extensive weight training, endurance training, and cramming in all the intricacies of boxing into what time she had was no vacation. Not that there wasn't some enjoyment, however. Cinderella got a slight buzz whenever she saw the look on Prudence's face when special meals were ordered. The sheer amount of calories needed to add enough muscle mass…

And at least Charming had no problem with it. In fact, her husband seemed to rather like the changes! And since Charming was no stranger to being trained up to prepare for anything, he had been nothing but supportive, even joining in with Phil in training sessions. It had almost been an adventure in itself, a journey with her true love. Most of the time, it was enough to let Cinderella forget what this upcoming fight personified in the first place.

Thankfully, it was not as if Charming wouldn't be there for their big night. He finished fastening Cinderella's left glove, and being much more gentle about it than Phil. Their eyes met, and just like the first time they gazed at each other… The spark was still there, giving her enough courage to go on. Sighing, Cinderella gazed one last time into the mirror. No doubt this face of hers, which captivated so many of her subjects back home, wouldn't look quite so alluring once the night was over.

But there was no weaseling out of it. With one final sigh, Cinderella stood up, looking down at her gloved hands. Normally, she could do so much lasting good with these hands. Prepare a decent meal for someone in need, place a reassuring hand on those who were at their lowest. But tonight, she was being asked to simply use them to pound a fellow princess into oblivion.

"Ready, my princess?" Charming asked kindly, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Taking a deep breath, Cinderella could only say, "As ready as I'll ever be."

"THAT'S what I like to hear!" cried Phil as he stepped down from the vanity. The little satyr led the way out of their dressing rooms, and out into the hallway the three would follow to the main event. Walking these halls again made Cinderella bristle. This was the House of Mouse, only now it had been renovated and expanded. It turned out that the misadventures that went on when running a dinner club… There was no place for something so amusingly simple anymore, something so lighthearted. Times had changed, and rather quickly. This boxing match Cinderella found herself preparing for, it was hardly the first one held here at the House of Mouse, and wouldn't be the last. Tales like hers of women overcoming hardship without a lot of fighting… It wasn't what people really wanted to hear anymore. And all that time restructuring stuff, which forced her to jump from a pumpkin-carriage fixing to go over a cliff, hadn't improved her image in the eyes of some people.

So here she was, after six months of training, prepared to have her brains beaten into a pulp. As Cinderella made the slow walk to an uncertain and unwelcome fate, Phil - in a breathtaking display of insensitivity and an enthusiasm Cinderella did not share – couldn't help but prattle on about all the boxing matches that came before. "Hoo boy, sure feels good to have had the chance to train up one of these lovely ladies going into these fights. We already had some good ones. Kida vs. Mulan, Jasmine vs. Pocahontas, Jessica Rabbit vs. Ariel… Now that last one, _THERE'S_ a textbook definition of a knockdown, drag-out brawl!"

Cinderella heard Charming scratch his head. "How _DID_ that one last so long? Isn't Jessica Rabbit the kind of toon that's supposed to be virtually impervious to physical harm?"

"And she was goin' up against a lady who was originally part of a species that evolved to withstand the pressures of the ocean floor," Phil pointed out. "Unstoppable force, meet immovable object."

Cinderella was not at all anxious to hear any recollections of the past matches, so she cut in about the most gruesome one yet. "And what about when Aurora and Maleficent were thrown in the ring together?" asked Cinderella brusquely.

Charming facepalmed. "Oh, now _THAT_ was a bloodbath!"

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From Aurora's corner of the ring, Prince Phillip, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather looked on with a mix of astonishment and fear. The rapid sounds of one bone-crushing punch being delivered after another permeated the entire building. And as they kept watching, occasionally wincing, Maleficent's head hit the mat hard a few yards from their corner, her nose broken, blood oozing from her mouth, her eyes listless and glassy.

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"Yeah, who knew them fairies made Aurora learn her kingdom's equivalent of Israeli CQC as a kid?" asked Phil.

"Obviously not Maleficent!" replied Charming. Cinderella briefly hoped Charming was getting the hint, and would help steer the conversation elsewhere. Instead, to her chagrin, he dove deeper. "And then there was how Cinderella and I once had a dinner interrupted by Calla and Eilonwy's fight going awry," he went on, as Cinderella could only grunt and hang her head.

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On the night in question, Cinderella and Charming were up in what could've been considered the House of Mouse's equivalent of the nosebleed section. Unfortunately, that hadn't stopped the insanity from reaching all the way up there. Down in the ring, there was a weird, resounding 'bouncy' sound. Swiftly followed by the sound of a bone-crushing uppercut echoing throughout the entire building. After which Cinderella and Charming's eyes trailed up, up to right above their table. A moment later, they could only watch helplessly as Eilonwy crashed down onto their table, along with one of the stage lights knocked loose, shattering it to splinters.

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"Y'know, I heard that fight caused a slew of headaches for the mouse and company," said Phil. "On top of the obvious implications of some little bear guy slipping a princess performance-enhancing drugs, there was somethin' about child labor statutes!"

"Yet nothing when it came to mice and fairies," added Charming. "Lucky that was the case, though. Tinker Bell cutting loose against that mouse Gadget… _THAT_ was also a fight for the ages!"

"Yeah, provided you were close enough to even _SEE_ what was goin' on!" cried Phil. "Otherwise, you needed binoculars to see which one of them little ladies was buyin' or sellin'!"

Cinderella sighed in defeat as the two of them prattled on, silently hoping _HER_ fight wouldn't become a subject of contention later. Her own private musings were more than enough to drawn out their overenthusiastic attitude about all these fights. And pretty much everything else, for that matter. Her mind barely registered that they that stepped out into the main area of the House of Mouse, and the spotlights swerved to shine on the three of them.

Sighing, she looked up, tried to feign looking like her bright and cheery self. Going along with it the best she could, she raised her gloved hands as all the attendees cheered. Cinderella briefly hoped to somehow hear the cries of Jaq, Gus and all her other mouse friends amid that din, but Goofy's voice over the intercom announcing her arrival more or less drowned the crowd out. Goofy went on, probably to announce Snow White's arrival as well. But Cinderella was only half-listening as Charming and Phil accompanied her to their corner of the ring. _Time to focus, and just get this over with,_ Cinderella fumed inwardly. Trying to beat in the face of a good friend… Not how Cinderella would prefer to spend an evening like this. But times had changed, and for the first time in a long while, Cinderella felt powerless to fight fate…

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But if Cinderella was feeling uncharacteristically dour about all of their present circumstances… Someone she, unfortunately, knew quite well wasn't letting it show if she shared similar sentiments. In fact, given what was about to go down, the evening held some promise for her. Lady Tremaine sauntered through the House of Mouse, putting on her most aloof and insufferably regal demeanor, as usual, with Anastasia, Drizzela and Lucifer in tow. In stark contrast to Tremaine's sociopathic smirking, the three of them looked positively bored, as if they'd rather be anywhere but here. Even if there was the promise of potentially seeing Cinderella getting her perfectly beautiful face reduced to mince, a noisy crowd like this was hardly their idea of a fun evening. Especially since the House of Mouse had changed so drastically in the last few years.

And normally, Tremaine would be inclined to agree. As cold as her heart could be, the raw display of barbarism that boxing offered did not suit her tastes. Subtlely pulling on heartstrings and puppet strings from afar was more her style. But tonight, with Cinderella herself in the ring, would be a glorious exception. Whether her accursed stepdaughter won or lost, the prospect of seeing her take some well-deserved punishment was too rich to ignore. Especially when considering that Cinderella could have easily declined, but chose to fight instead. If their world was changing so that Cinderella felt obligated to debase herself with such a barbaric display, who was her estranged stepmother to argue with her choice?

But as Tremaine and her entourage made their way to their table, on the far side of where the ring was set up, she began to feel the same unease as her cat and daughters. Indeed, their world was changing, and not just to the point where Cinderella was willingly throwing herself into a boxing ring. The four of them passed a table where Hades and Dr. Faciller were seated, and true to fashion, the former was rattling off at warp speed. "I tell ya Faciller, when the competition for the biggest bad were folks like Jafar and Maleficent, I didn't feel insecure. I-I-I felt pretty good about where I stood," Hades rambled. "But you got all these new guys, now. A mere mortal who can uproot a city and rearrange a planet's electromagnetic field if his oatmeal isn't cooked just the right way. And he's a bug on a windshield next to this other purple-and-red guy who can SUCK THE LIFE FORCE out of a planet outright. I dunno, Doc. It's like, I dunno, being Lord of the Underworld isn't quite makin' the cut anymore, get what I'm sayin'?"

Tremaine said nothing as they passed by. The delicate feelings of the underworld's god were of no concern of hers, and what could she say that would assuage his anxieties? _Though I have to admit, these Marvel villains… we do have considerable competition now,_ Tremaine mused.

And even worse, many of them were here tonight, along with their own heroic rivals. They passed another table, this one occupied by a red-haired, yellow-eyed, blue-skinned woman with some reptilian scales, sporting a white dress and a belt of golden skulls. As if that wasn't garish enough, seated with her was some leather-clad ruffian with toadish, mottled skin, some unfathomably huge musclebound thug with reddish-brown armor and a dome helmet, and a brown-haired man almost as big, due to being disgustingly fat. No surprise that last one was busy stuffing his face at that particular moment.

Tremaine did her best to ignore them, but out the corner of her eye, she saw Mystique give her an approving smirk. As if she approved of her reputation of being a conniving, cold-hearted manipulator. Tremaine wasn't sure if she wanted anything to do with her. Of all the fellow villains she had ever met, Maleficent remained the only one Tremaine felt she could confide in.

"Ugh, our worlds have come together, we get it already," grumbled Drizella all of a sudden. "Is that any reason for all these freaks to barge onto our home turf?"

"Not to mention it's the MUTANT freaks. As if to troll us about how there's one group of these so-called heroes that aren't entirely, as that stupid mermaid might say, part of our world," added Anastasia.

Looking around again, Tremaine saw that Anastasia had a point. None of those web-slinging or gamma-irradiated or armored freakshows could be seen anywhere among the usual crowd. No, from the looks of things, the newcomers were indeed all mutants, or people closely associated with them. The big X's on a lot of their garb punctuated this.

"I wonder what all of them are doing here tonight, anyway," Drizella wondered aloud. "I've haven't seen this many of them on our side of the multiverse before."

"It is of no concern of ours," snapped Tremaine, glaring back at her daughters. "We're here to see some well-deserved abuse heaped onto Cinderella, nothing more." Drizella smirked a little, but as expected, Anastasia looked conflicted. Normally, Tremaine would instantly chastise Anastasia for that, but the truth was that despite her bravado, for some reason, the presence of all these mutants, these… X-Men, did rattle her. Tremaine couldn't understand exactly why. Circumstances had forced her to be among 'heroes' before, many of which could effortlessly destroy her if they abandoned their quaint morals. Yet something was telling her that tonight, these mutants spelled trouble.

Doing her best to push those troublesome worries down, Tremaine took her seat at their table conveniently located near the ring, allowing Lucifer to crawl up into her lap. Best not to look around at all the interlopers intruding on their 'turf', as Drizella put it. Still, she caught a glimpse at two people seated at the table right beside theirs. Some big, blue-furred monster, accompanied by some brown-haired woman with a long trench coat over a green suit with a huge yellow X plastered across the torso. Tremaine guessed who they were supposed to be, but suddenly, something dawned on her. That girl didn't have a white streak in her hair.

Flummoxed, Tremaine slowly turned to face her, and realized that this was someone entirely different, someone she actually knew on some level. "Belle!?" Tremaine cried incredulously. "Why on Earth would you be dressed as…one of them!?"

Belle turned to smile at them, as did her companion. A quick glance at him showed Tremaine that this wasn't the 'Beast' she first suspected he was. That mutant interloper didn't have _HORNS_. How much blue dye it took to change his fur color…Tremaine didn't want to know. "Well, Lady Tremaine, since we've been blessed with so much mutant company lately, I thought we'd, well, dress for the occasion." Belle said all that with a voice dripping wet with sarcasm bordering on malice.

"I see." Tremaine couldn't lie to herself; she was a little impressed by Belle tossing pretense out the carriage window. There might be a glimmer of hope for this slip of a girl yet. "So in essence, you are…trolling the mutants," Tremaine offered delicately.

Belle's brow furrowed in confusion. "You sound like you disapprove."

"Oh, not at all, my child," Tremaine said kindly. The sort of kindness she offered before dropping a verbal axe. "I simply expected something a little more cunning, given your reputation. After all, this is the sort of poke-in-the-eye anyone can attempt. And it looks like some of our mutant guests have indeed done so," she finished, pointing a finger at another nearby table. Following her gaze, Belle and the Beast looked to see the X-Men's _Southern_ Belle and _her_ fellow Beast seated there. Only, the former had Belle's trademark golden ball gown on, and the latter had that trademark blue dress suit. Upon realizing the jig was up, Rogue smiled saccharinely and waved at Belle.

And Belle didn't take it well at all. Standing up straight, she bellowed, "Oh, go [TRUCK HORN SOUND] yourselves!"

Unfazed, Rogue glanced over at Dr. McCoy. "Hmmm. Go [TRUCK HORN] ourselves," she repeated insouciantly, grinning even more broadly. "Hank, jot that down. That little gem's goin' in our next movie."

Needing no more reminders that those mutant fools would probably never be in a movie that belonged to them, Tremaine returned her focus on the ring instead. Goofy had announced tonight's fighters just then, and she hadn't really paid attention, thanks to Belle. And now, Cinderella was stepping through the ropes, flanked by that sop of a prince and that lecherous satyr. Charming helped Cinderella take her robe off as they stood in their corner, revealing the silvery-blue sports bra and shorts she had underneath. Forcing down the acidic envy bubbling up from the reminder of how this naïve stepdaughter of hers was blessed with more beauty and prowess than her own progeny, Tremaine glanced over at the other corner. Upon seeing who would be planting gloved fists in her stepdaughter's face…

"Oh dear," Tremaine thought aloud, her voice dripping with mock concern and shock. "That certainly explains a lot…"

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Despite the roar of the crowd and all the lights swooping across the makeshift arena, Charming noticed the pace of Cinderella's breathing quickening. He planted his hands on her shoulders to massage them. This seemed to do the trick, as if he could feel his wife's unease slowly begin to melt away. "Not to worry my princess, you've got this. With Phil and me training you up… You're more than match for any other princess out there." Cinderella reached back with one arm and hugged him closer to her, and he could just imagine her smiling to herself. His encouragement was working, and besides, these weren't just empty assurances. With the two of them helping her, how could she possibly lose to any other princess, especially the normally demure Snow White?

Unfortunately, this brief moment of calm and surety was broken by Phil's raspy snapping. "Uh lovebirds, hate to break it to ya, but it don't look like Cindy's up against a fellow princess no more."

Cinderella's head jerked up, and Charming could feel the tension seep back into her muscles in an instant. He could also imagine Cinderella's eyes snapping open, filled with worry. "What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded tersely.

A pause from the satyr, and then, "Maybe it's best to let the mouse himself explain what's goin' on, 'cuz I gots no clue."

Indeed, in the middle of the ring, along with Goofy in a referee's uniform and still holding a microphone, Mickey Mouse himself was there, dressed in a snazzy tuxedo. If anything, he looked even more nervous and abashed than Cinderella must have felt at the moment.

Whatever was going on, since it involved his princess, Charming wanted to know about it and fast. The three of them stepped forward, and taking the initiative, Charming demanded, "Mickey, what's this about Snow White supposedly not being here tonight?"

"Uh, gosh, I'm afraid it's true," said Mickey anxiously. "Y'see, the night before, Snowy tried some new cooking at the dwarves' place, trying to make a new dish derived from Gummi Berries or something, and… Well, let's just say that kingdom got eight fresh cases of severe dysentery. Very nasty stuff."

Cinderella facepalmed with a boxing-glove-clad hand. "That Snow White could always be a bit of the featherbrain at the worst possible times," she grumbled into her glove.

"So…if Miss Apple ain't in the runnin' tonight, who is?" asked Phil tersely.

If possible, Mickey looked even more anxious and apologetic than before. "Well, that's where our new otherworldly…friends, have agreed to help," Mickey explained meekly.

"Otherworldly friends?" Charming repeated dubiously. Looking around, he noticed a lot of…guests that weren't normally around the House of Mouse. No, that couldn't be it. He refused to even entertain that possibility. "Mickey, you can't be serious about making my princess fight an _X-MAN_."

"I…think that's exactly what the mouse has planned, Charmy," said Phil, pointing to the far corner of the ring. Cinderella and Charming looked ahead. What immediately grabbed their eye was someone _BIG_ standing in front of the far corner, with short black hair arranged in a flat-top much like Charming's. Charming doubted _HE'D_ last even a few rounds in the ring with that big bruiser, to say nothing about his wife's chances. And right next to him stood some slim, youngish black-haired woman who had…two claws protruding from between the knuckles on each hand!? And she just stood there, nonchalantly rubbing said claws across each other, as if to sharpen them. Something told Charming that, even with those claws sheathed, Cinderella would have better luck against the big guy.

And then, a ray of hope. The two X-Men stood aside to reveal who Cinderella would actually be fighting. Seated on the stool at the X-Men's corner was a girl around Cinderella's age, with fair skin and shoulder-length, wavy brown hair. She wore a blue-and-yellow top and shorts, and had bright blue boxing gloves already fastened. And the way she rose off her stool, she was clearly ready to go. Still, Charming breathed a sigh of relief. Out of all three of these X-Men, this one looked to be the least dangerous. Maybe his princess could pull this off yet…

But while Charming felt relief, Cinderella could only voice exasperation and shock. " _THAT'S_ Snow White's replacement!? I have to beat _her_!?" Cinderella demanded incredulously. "She barely looks any older than me!"

The relief that Charming felt mere moments ago, though, began to evaporate when the big guy and the clawed girl simply glanced at each other. And smirked wickedly.

"Well, Kitty Pryde's the only one we could get to agree to this on such short notice," Mickey said quickly. Charming got the notion that Mickey was afraid Cinderella would back out if things didn't get underway. But how dangerous could this Kitty be? That other X-girl looked like she could rip her apart without any claws.

Still, Charming had to find out. Leaning down to nudge Phil, he hissed something in the satyr's ear. "Hey Phil, what do you know about this…Kitty Pryde?"

"Oh, their Shadowkitty? No wait…Shadow _cat_ ," Phil hissed back. "Oh, she's their computer genius or somethin'. Walks through walks and on air and stuff."

"Is that all?" Charming asked hopefully, his hopes rising even more. "Well, none of that will help her here tonight. Cinderella's got a chance!"

The two boxers were already facing each other, and Goofy had just gone over the rules. "Hyuk, now girls, y'all know the rules. We all want a good, clean fight, so touch gloves and let's get it on." And with that, Cinderella and Kitty bashed their gloves together, the bell for the first round rang, and the fight was on.

But just after the bell rang and Phil and Charming slid out of the ring, the satyr suddenly cried out. "Uh-oh! I just remembered somethin' else about this Kitty!"

Charming slowly turned to look down at Phil. "What. Is. It," he demanded acerbically. The sound of boxing gloves vehemently smacking into human flesh filled their ears, and when Charming looked back into the ring, he was greeted with the sight of his princess toppling over and eating the mat.

"Well, this Shadowcat is also kinda, sorta, like, well… A fully-trained ninja," Phil said meekly.

Those words slowly sank in as Cinderella slowly pried her face off the mat, and Charming realized that the chime to end the twelfth round couldn't come soon enough.


	2. At the Stroke of the Twelfth Round

Antisocial Behavior

A very disturbing Cinderella story

Chapter 2: At the Stroke of the Twelfth Round

4-12-2016

By Grey-X

Disclaimer: Cinderella and all other characters that appear in this story are the property of Disney. Including the Marvel Comics and Star Wars characters. If you still got a hair up your ass about that all these years later, go eat a bowl of dicks.

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Bells. The sound of their forceful yet pleasant ringing was a focal point in many pivotal moments in Cinderella's life. The stroke of twelve that would signal the breaking of her Fairy Godmother's spell, the sounds of the bells at her wedding to Prince Charming. First they heralded impending danger, and then everlasting joy.

This time, however, they announced one and only one thing. Pain, and lots of it. So incessant was their dreadful chime, she was barely aware of Goofy standing close by, continuing his count. But these bells were only going off inside her own head, which was still pounding even as she slowly picked it off the mat. Her thoughts were so muddled, as blurry as her vision, it took a few moments just to recall what made those bells toll plangently in her head. That X-girl Kitty Pryde, those gloved fists of hers swooping in faster than she imagined possible. That had her kissing the mat before one could say, "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo."

And as much as she'd like to just lie there and let Goofy's count go to ten, Cinderella knew she couldn't just give up. The people gathered here tonight expected a good show, and besides, after all the time Charming and Phil invested in her… No, the fight had to go on. So, gingerly, inexorably, Cinderella rose to her knees, and then to her feet, just as Goofy's count got up to seven. "Gawrsh, are you OK, Cinderella?" asked Goofy kindly.

Her vision still muddled, Cinderella just stared ahead at Kitty, who was slightly bounding in place, bashing her gloves together. She couldn't be sure, but Cinderella could almost swear the X-Man was smirking. With a quick glance at Goofy, Cinderella merely nodded. With that, Goofy stepped aside, and motioned for the two of them to have at it again.

Determined not to be caught unawares and underestimate Kitty again, Cinderella fought to retain her focus as the two of them circled each other. But once again, like lightning, Kitty was upon her. A flurry of blindingly-fast punches, but Cinderella hadn't spent six months in preparation and learned nothing. This time, now fully aware of how dangerous her opponent was, Cinderella was able to block the incoming onslaught of punches. But if she didn't counterattack and soon, Kitty would force her against the ropes, wear her down and break through. And thankfully, Kitty seemed to be getting overeager, now guilty of underestimating the opposition. A straight jab that came in with too much speed and force behind it, and Cinderella sensed her opportunity. Deflecting the incoming blow with her forearm, Cinderella then launched a jab of her own. But Kitty's reflexes were just too good. She ducked her head aside, and Cinderella's glove simply slid off Kitty's cheek. Then, in that split-second while Cinderella was a little off-balance, Kitty landed a right cross, smack into Cinderella's jaw.

Blood spurted from her lips as the force of the blow made Cinderella spin around. The bells in her head clanging louder than ever, the entire House of Mouse spinning, Cinderella wound up collapsing onto the bottom rope right behind her. For a moment or two, Cinderella lingered there, staring out into the crowd glassy-eyed while suspended by the bottom rope. Cheers and jeers from the crowd started to rouse her, as did a taunt from Kitty: "Uh, isn't it your shoes that are made of glass, not your jaw?"

Cinderella only half-heard Kitty, for something else grabbed her attention amid the taunts and the cheers. All gathered around a table close to the ring… the 'family' she used to live with. Anastasia, bless her little heart, truly did look sympathetic as her hands flew to her mouth. At least, Cinderella thought so. Her bleary vision made it difficult to tell. And from what she could tell, Lucifer and Drizella just looked bemused, more surprised than anything else.

Yet at bad as her vision was at the moment, there was no mistaking the look on her stepmother's face. Lady Tremaine was staring back at her with the most insufferably smug, self-satisfied glare Cinderella had ever seen. And considering how long she had had to put up with her stepmother's abuse, that was saying a lot. It was also a reason Cinderella decided that she, along with Drizella, should've only been punished with a few months of servitude in the castle, rather than the rest of their lives. Part of it was, of course, Cinderella just felt she shouldn't be that vindictive, but there was also how things were better when her stepmother was completely out of sight.

And now Tremaine had the opportunity to flash that cold, smug glare at her again, and Cinderella realized that previous attempt at empathy and mercy was all a waste. And in that terrible instant, all the bottled-up frustration with her stepmother that Cinderella was certain had been put behind her boiled to the surface.

Well, too late to fix that mistake now, and besides, there was a fight to get back to. And maybe, just maybe, she could tap this newly-loosed frustration, and let it fuel…

This all happened in the span of a few seconds, and Goofy only got to five this time. Picking herself off the ropes, doing everything she could to block out the pain, to ignore how everything was still spinning. She had to. The first round was only about halfway done, and one more knockdown would mean the end.

That was the limit of Cinderella's strategic thinking at the moment. Besides, trying to formulate a plan hadn't worked all that well moments ago. _So this time, best to take this little kitty by SURPRISE!_ Cinderella silently reasoned. And once Goofy gave the go-ahead, Cinderella was delighted to see shock in Kitty's eyes as she rushed right at her. Now Kitty was on the defensive. Granted, it was no surprise that most of her blows were blocked, but Cinderella was determined to at least not give Kitty another chance to mount an offensive. And it worked. What also worked? Imagining it was actually her stepmother's face she was coming for!

Cinderella was so worked up, she only half-heard the clang ending the first round, and Goofy had to step to break things up. Grumbling as Goofy gently but firmly pushed her over to her corner of the ring, Cinderella relented and went over to sit down. But the rush of pent-up rage was starting to fade a little, and exhaustion from this fight was seeping in already. Like how blood was seeping into her mouthguard.

As Charming massaged her shoulders, Phil provided a bucket to spit into. Cinderella couldn't remember the last time she had seen so much of her own blood, and she knew she'd see plenty more before the chime to end the twelfth round sounded. Phil clearly knew this too, looking up at her with remorse, as if he felt responsible for the night of sheer agony that lay ahead. "Look Princess, maybe this wasn't such a hot idea after all," said the satyr. "This X-girlie over there… She's actually got all the skills of a full-fledged ninja."

Glancing over at the other corner, Cinderella could make out Kitty, being tended to by Colossus and X-23. And she seemed eager to get back into the ring for more. _At least I've bridged the enthusiasm gap now,_ Cinderella thought to herself.

"Phil's right," Charming chimed in as he continued massaging. "Maybe we should consider calling this off. If things get too intense out there, don't be surprised if I throw the towel, and…"

"My love, you'll do no such thing," Cinderella snarled through bloodied lips. Phil stared back up at her, as if he couldn't believe his ears.

Cinderella could only imagine how flummoxed Charming looked just then as well. "B-B-B-But Cinderella, Mickey's obviously guilty of a huge oversight! T-T-This kid's way tougher than we gave her credit for! Six months of training won't amount to much against a ninja."

"Then if I can't beat her, I'll go the distance," Cinderella spat back. "I went through years of mental and physical trauma. What's one more night?"

Still, Charming wasn't dissuaded. "My princess, I-I-I-I still don't think…"

"My stepmother's in the audience, right now," Cinderella cut in. "Will you really throw the towel and force me to quit in front of _HER_!?" she demanded.

And that ended the argument as surely as the bell began the next round. Phil slipped her mouthguard back in, and Cinderella bounded off her stool to lock horns with that X-girl again. A little rest was just what she needed, and Cinderella came right at Kitty again. She had the advantage in height and mass, and if she expected to not get carried out of the House of Mouse on a stretcher, she had to press that. Like Charming said, it would only do so much against a trained ninja. But if that made it so getting her face beat in would at least mean something…

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Tremaine simply couldn't believe how abruptly the whole flow of the bout changed. Then again, she realized it should have come as no surprise at all. When her eyes and her stepdaughter's met in that one fleeting instant, there was no mistaking what briefly flashed in them…

Rage. Venomous, all-consuming rage. Some of it had trickled through when she and those two vermin confronted her after her attempt to meddle with time, but now it roared out like a waterfall. Try as the girl might to paint herself as a perfect little princess, far above petty things like long-term resentment and a need to show up her enemies, one look from her stepmother tonight was all that was needed for Cinderella to _WILLINGLY_ pull that mask off. The masquerade was over, to Kitty Pryde's temporary detriment and to Tremaine's immense delight. Tremaine had come tonight for the simple promise of seeing Cinderella get the stuffing beat out of her, but winding up being the catalyst that made Cinderella explode was far more gratifying. So many years of trying to break that fool girl's spirit and availing to nothing. But simply by being here tonight, victory snatched from the jaws of defeat at last!

Tremaine could not keep from grinning wickedly as the fight raged on. For a brief moment, it was _CINDERELLA_ who had Kitty against the ropes! "BAD KITTY!" Cinderella roared as she unloaded on the X-Man. Tremaine wasn't sure if that uncouth satyr tried to instill the need for strategy into that girl. At the moment, it was hard to tell. A punishing body blow, a jab to Kitty's face barely deflected in time…the servant-turned-princess seemed to be letting her inner fury guide her, lashing out with wild abandon. But blind rage could only propel one for so long, and this Shadowcat was clearly the more experienced of the two. She was only against the ropes for a few seconds before she found an opening in Cinderella's salvo, delivering a crushing blow square between her eyes. And she didn't let up. For someone with the power to make herself as intangible as a ghost, Shadowcat could sure deliver blows that felt plenty solid.

But as Kitty forged ahead, putting Cinderella back on the defensive, it did little to dissuade Cinderella. Whether due to that satyr's training, sheer force of will, or a mix of both, Cinderella kept herself from going down again in the second round. Although still hopelessly outmatched, she wouldn't give Shadowcat the satisfaction again so soon. Or her stepmother the satisfaction of seeing it.

And after the bell chimed to give both girls a brief respite, then again to signal the start of the third, Tremaine began to notice another change. Not in Cinderella, but rather, in those who had come to see her fight. The cries from the crowd… _THIS_ was what a good chunk of them had come to see! Whereas moments before it looked like the fight would be a blowout, now it was obvious this thing would drag on to its grisly end.

That was fine with Tremaine. The longer Cinderella slogged it out in the ring, the more she could rub the fool girl's face in it later. If only the place wasn't echoing with insufferable cheers of encouragement for the wretched girl. Belle, being so close to them… Her plangent cheering for her fellow princess rang in Tremaine's ears the loudest. Yet it wasn't just those you'd expect to cheer for Cinderella anyway. Some of the mutants and their friends… They were… _HAPPY_ to see Cinderella offer up a real challenge for Shadowcat!? _Perhaps it's not so outlandish,_ Tremaine realized after Cinderella lurched forward and connected with a cross, right after Kitty landed a punishing straight jab. _These barbaric mutants, they would only begin to respect someone like Cinderella if she made a stand and fought back. Another thing about our new 'friends' I can delicately point out to her once this is over._ If possible, Tremaine's wicked grin became even more pronounced. _Just as long as my immediate company doesn't get swept up in this, and…_

That one hope, though, was dashed when Kitty briefly forced Cinderella against the ropes, and Drizella shouted out, "C'mon Cinderella, don't take that from some ghost kitty! Get off those ropes! Whoop her ass!"

Anastasia just stared blankly at her sister from across the table. "Wow. I figured if any of us broke out in cheers for her, it'd be me," she said dully.

"Drizella, be silent!" Tremaine snapped. "Who's side are you on!?"

"Our side of the multiverse, that's who's!" Drizella shot back. "Someone's got to show who's still boss on our home turf, and like it or not, Cinderella's in a prime position to do it!"

Tremaine grumbled to herself, realizing her daughter had a point. These X-fools did have to learn that they were no pushovers. Besides, whether or not Cinderella pulled off yet another miracle and actually _BEAT_ an X-Man was of no consequence. Whatever the outcome, Tremaine had won something decisive tonight. Still, it was a little galling she had won purely by accident, and not after several years of methodically tormenting the girl. And again, Tremaine couldn't shake the notion that all these mutants present posed some other, unforeseen problem.

And so, Tremaine put up with her daughter cheering encouragement for their least-favorite princess. Soon the third round came to an end, and the two girls retreated to their respective corners, but nine rounds remained.

As the fight went on, the cries from the crowd getting louder and more vehement, Tremaine could at least take delight in seeing what see initially came to see. Though Kitty was looking more winded and a little bloodier after each round, Cinderella was clearly the one more on the receiving end. Her left eye seemed to be getting puffier and puffier. Also, even though Tremaine hardly had a trained eye for things like boxing, Cinderella was visibly getting slower, her gaze more glassy, her punches steadily becoming clumsier. And though, in about every other round, Cinderella actually succeeded in knocking Shadowcat down at least once, the princess seemed to go down at least once in every later round.

 _I should be flattered,_ Tremaine thought to herself evilly, watching Cinderella stagger back to her corner after the bell signaled the end of the eleventh round. _By now, it's clear that it's pure force of will that's keeping the poor girl on her feet. The thought of going down in defeat in front of her dear stepmother is more than the poor dear can bear._ She watched the three of them in that corner earnestly, wondering just how this final round would play out.

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The stroke of twelve. That was what signaled an end of a wondrous spell and a dreamy night, the most important night of Cinderella's life. Though in a way, tonight was important as well. But here, when the bell sounded to end the twelfth round, it would herald the end of an absolute nightmare. The original plan, a boxing match against Snow White for others' amusement in these changing times… That had seemed distasteful enough. But it would've been better than the throbbing head, aching muscles and blurred vision that came with getting in the ring with Snow White's ninja-trained stand-in.

Cinderella spat into Phil's bucket again, then told her husband in a slurred drawl, "Ch-Ch-Charming… T-T-T-T-Tomorrow, when this is o-o-o-over, do get some straight answers out of that mouse…" How Mickey or anyone else could've missed the tidbit about Kitty Pryde having ninja skills was an oversight that demanded a _VERY GOOD_ explanation.

"Oh believe me, I will," Charming hissed back through gritted teeth as he kneaded her knotted, aching muscles.

"That can wait, dollface," Phil cut in. Cinderella had to contain a laugh, but a little spittle of blood escaped anyway. If the old adage of looking worse than one felt held true for her at the moment, Cinderella was eternally grateful no one had a mirror right then. It took effort just to keep her left eye open a slit, it was so puffy and beaten badly. And the rest of her face had to be a bloody mess. It was a miracle in itself that she didn't feel any loose teeth. "You're one round away from goin' the distance. One. Round. Away. You said you ain't goin' down in front o' that stepmother of yours, right? After all that time stuck with her, she couldn't make a sop out o' ya. Go prove that an X-girlie can't do that job for her, either."

As Cinderella stared over at the other corner, trying to judge through bleary vision how much she gave Shadowcat in comparison to what she got, the bell for the twelfth round finally rang. This was it, the final stretch. All it took was surviving this one last round with a superhero. _One last round,_ Cinderella kept telling herself. _One last round…_

Forcing herself to trudge forward on legs with bones that felt like rubber, Cinderella made her way to the center of the ring, where Goofy and Shadowcat awaited. Goofy stepped back, and then Shadowcat charged. Cinderella would have been content to avoid going down in defeat in twelfth round, but Kitty obviously had her sights set higher: putting her away. An onslaught of bright blue blurs came right for Cinderella's face. Cinderella did her best to deflect all the blows while looking for an opening. But with one eye all puffy and her vision blurry anyway, it was easier said than done. And while the bones in her legs felt like rubber, the ones in her arms felt like lead.

But realizing that playing it safe with an X-Man was a recipe for disaster, Cinderella kept trying to find that opening, despite how her head and arms were screaming with pain and exhaustion. After about thirty seconds in the final round, Cinderella thought she had it. Since Kitty was shorter, she had to aim higher. So when she trudged forward again for another jab, Cinderella ducked a little and aimed low, scoring a particularly vicious body blow. Stunned and surprised, Kitty was left open just long enough for a cross that sent her reeling. But it wasn't quite enough to knock her off her feet. Cinderella had put everything she could into that second punch, but exhausted as she was, mustering enough strength was beyond her. Besides, being a superhero, Kitty was surely used to taking more punishment than that.

A tidbit punctuated all too clearly when Shadowcat was upon Cinderella again almost immediately. Cinderella tried to keep her at bay with everything she had left, refusing to go on the defensive again. She even managed to score a few more satisfying smacks to Kitty's face. But again, Shadowcat's greater experience was just too much to overcome. And being taller could also put Cinderella at a disadvantage, making body blows a little easier for Shadowcat to score. Going for the breadbasket and easily breaking through Cinderella's clumsily-mounted defense, a few punishing blows had Cinderella doubling over, clutching her midsection as she coughed up some blood.

By the time the bells in Cinderella's head died down enough for her to hear anything else, Goofy had already counted to five. And as Cinderella fought to prop herself up on arms and legs that felt liable to snap, she could hear voices from beyond the ring again. A lot of incoherent cheers. And one voice shouting encouragement, was that… _DRIZELLA_!? That gave Cinderella a little extra motivation to get back up on aching legs, knowing she'd somehow managed to 'corrupt' her other stepsister right in front of Lady Tremaine. But some cheers came from voices she didn't quite recognize. Could it be…some of the MARVELS wanted her back on her feet? Was it only the X-Men's villains, or the X-Men wanting one of their own to score a TKO against a worthy foe, or something else entirely?

At last, Cinderella got back to her feet, just as Goofy reached nine. Way too close. If she went down again, it was doubtful she'd have to worry about a third and final time. "I know I might sound stupid to ask but…you sure you're ready for more?" Goofy asked kindly.

Cinderella looked ahead at Shadowcat instead, still looking eager to put this bout away, then out at the crowd. Jaq and Gus were out in that crowd, along with many of her other old friends. But the faces of all the newcomers… No, as best as she could tell, there was no genuine malice in any of their eyes. Not even the ones whom she were certain were villains, and thus should've been disappointed by her failure to do better against an X-Man. Perhaps agreeing to this fight had some unforeseen positive effects, after all. The only person who looked mutinous was her stepmother. Though she hid it well behind that smirking face, Cinderella knew her too well.

Knowing that made this night of agony all worth it thus far. _And if I actually go the distance…_ Cinderella simply nodded to Goofy before pushing him aside and raising her gloves. _Less than two minutes to go now…_ Cinderella repeated that over and over in her head as she ducked and blocked Shadowcat's next onslaught of punches. Cinderella just hoped her teeth wouldn't be going through it as well.

At least that unpleasant fate was avoided when Cinderella ducked her head aside just in time, narrowly evading a nasty punch Shadowcat had wound up for. Another body blow delivered while she was off-balance for a split-second, followed by an uppercut. And then, for a heartbeat, Kitty went down. She was back on her feet and coming at Cinderella with another flurry of punches before Goofy even got to two.

It seemed to Cinderella that while settling for a much simpler goal gave her a sense of serenity in the midst of this haze of pain, Kitty's determination to put her away lent her a sort of desperate frustration. Her punches and dodges seemed a little clumsier now, much more than they should've been for the less-exhausted boxer. And that let Cinderella get in a few more jabs. Not enough to put her down again, but enough to make Kitty back off a little and keep her from throwing more of her own. Still, all the punishment was catching up to Cinderella. Each punch that Kitty was now landing made the entire ring spin a little faster. But Cinderella tried to keep one image fresh in her mind: that smug face of her stepmother's. Only by not going down could she be certain that that smug face would be wiped away, leaving Tremaine shocked and speechless all over again.

It worked, but only for a while. It wasn't long before the X-Man's frustration let her break through what defense Cinderella could offer up. Another body blow. Another cross that made Cinderella's teeth rattle. Another blow right into her puffed-up left eye. Yet another body blow. Punch after brain-rattling punch, yet Cinderella's will had not ebbed to the point where it would fail her. But that might've been about to change. Through her one good eye, Cinderella thought she saw Shadowcat winding up for one last punch. One that would put her under so far, Charming would need CPR to bring his true love around, not a simple kiss.

But just as Kitty was about to throw that punch, the bell chimed. It was over. A different stroke of twelve, signaling the end of a nightmare rather than a beautiful dream. By some miracle, she survived in the ring with a superhero and a ninja. Something else that she could say didn't require any help from animal friends or a Fairy Godmother, at least. Racking her considerably addled brains, she tried to remember where Lady Tremaine was sitting. But with one eye puffy and useless, and her vision out the other a bleary mess, she couldn't see what she hoped was a look of defeat on her stepmother's face. For that matter, she couldn't really see anything all that clearly. She could only make out Goofy and Shadowcat.

Cinderella turned toward the latter, who looked a little awkward, as if frozen in place with her arm cocked back for what would've been one last punch. "Y-Y-Y-You…" she spat out, sending out a spittle of blood. "D-D-D-Did you… h-h-h-hold back at all? S-S-S-Some sort of X-Man code of h-h-h-honor…"

Shadowcat lowered her arms, the fact that it was over seeming to sink in, then shook her head. "When you go up against folks like Apocalypse and the Juggernaut every other week, you learn not to pull your punches," said the X-Man. "I let you have everything, but…" Shadowcat shrugged her shoulders. "Twelve rounds isn't enough to put you into dreamland before midnight, I guess."

"G-G-G-G-Good to know," Cinderella spluttered. Right before her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she toppled over. Her head landed about a foot from Shadowcat's feet, a spray of blood shooting out from her lips as it hit the mat.

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"So, our dear Cinderella wound up going the distance after all," Tremaine drawled with a smirk after seeing Cinderella go down. As she petted Lucifer, she felt him give off a purr of contentment. "In the end, it doesn't really matter. It only…prolonged her agony for our viewing pleasure, while denying those X-maniacs a clear-cut victory over us." And most importantly to Tremaine, she got to see Cinderella's mask of regality and grace fall away, to see her become an uncaged animal in the ring. Still, it rankled, how in all their years together she failed in doing that despite her most earnest efforts. Yet just by their gazing at each other tonight through pure chance, the monster within Cinderella was freed. _It is a bittersweet claim to victory, but certainly not as bitter as Cinderella found the taste of her own blood,_ Tremaine thought to console herself.

"What do you mean, by no 'clear-cut victory'?" Drizella snapped. Tremaine glared at her sharply. If she hadn't found this outcome sufficiently satisfying, Cinderella wouldn't be the only one of her daughters reeling from a blow. "Cinderella still went down more times than that X-Lady. She'll still lose by decision!"

"Moral victories, Drizella. Sometimes, it's all one can hope for," she spat back, still scowling at Drizella. Turning back to the ring, she saw Goofy kneeling beside the fallen princess, checking on her while urging Charming to stay in his corner. Tremaine briefly worried that Shadowcat had done some lasting harm, which would take the fun out of gloating to Cinderella's face. But she dismissed the notion. Superhero and ninja this girl may be, but she must've had a naïveté about her similar to Cinderella's. The princess would surely recover.

Goofy's features seemed to soften after examining Cinderella, proving Tremaine's suspicions right. The poor girl would survive. But then Goofy covered an ear with one hand. But why? It soon dawned on Tremaine; he was getting a communiqué through an earpiece, perhaps about who the judges decided the victor was.

Drizella's prediction soon proved distressingly accurate. Goofy picked up a microphone, and that vexing, drawling voice of his filled the House of Mouse. "She's OK, ladies and gents. The princess just needs to rest a bit." Even seeing one of his own bloody and beaten, at the hands of this mutant interloper on their turf, couldn't take that insufferable happy-go-lucky tone out of Goofy's voice. "But the judges've made a decision, and the winner of this bout is…Shadowcat!" he finished, raising one of Shadowcat's gloved fists in the air. Shadowcat herself looked a little bemused, as if suddenly regretful about being a little _TOO GOOD_ in the ring.

The House of Mouse had been relatively quiet since the fight ended and Cinderella collapsed. But after Goofy announced who won by decision, the relative silence lasted only a few moments more. While it still lasted, however, the silence took on an…uneasy ambience. Soon all those Marvels were cheering the triumph of one of their own, but it wasn't as vehement and enthusiastic as Tremaine would have expected. Whether those Marvels were disappointed that Cinderella had denied Kitty a more glorious victory, or perhaps they still didn't consider Cinderella a worthy opponent despite surviving against a ninja, Tremaine wasn't certain.

What she was certain of, however, was the disdainful jeers coming from her own. Belle and the Beast were still close by, and they were practically screaming bloody murder. Belle, in particular, seemed to think Cinderella was set up to fail. _More like the mouse was simply incompetent, failing to research who he was pitting Cinderella against,_ Tremaine admonished silently.

But Belle was hardly alone. Tremaine could hear more angry jeers over the plangent cries of the Marvels. And she could make out some of her fellow villains as well. Even _THEY_ were sticking up for Cinderella, claiming that her stepdaughter was purposely set up to fail. The notion was absurd, of course. Why would Mickey _PURPOSELY_ set up one of their own to be humiliated, thus shaming _ALL_ of them by extension? A pity even her fellow villains refused to see reason, getting swept up in this hoopla. But the biggest shocker came when the one she most confided in joined the chorus. Somewhere in the makeshift stadium, Maleficent bellowed, "You mutants dare profess ignorance of such skullduggery around me!? ME, the Mistress of All Evil!? I see through your deception!"

There was a crack of thunder, signaling that Maleficent had truly lost her temper. "Unfortunately, I fear we're about to learn these mutants won't be cowed as easily as her minions," Tremaine lamented through gritted teeth.

And Tremaine's fears were soon confirmed. Maleficent's outburst proved to be the spark that set off all the dry underbrush. Shouts, screams, punches…soon the entire House of Mouse was filled with the din of both factions letting it all loose.

"Ummmm, Peter, Lauren… I think we'll be going now," Tremaine heard Shadowcat say timidly back up in the ring. Looking up, Tremaine saw that the girl had put an arm around both mutants in her corner. And then the three seemed to sink into the ring and out of sight! Just as one of her fellow mutants could be seen high above, beyond the ring. That Iceman had created one of his ice slides, to attack from above. But blasts of green plasma from below blinded him for a moment, and Tremaine swore she heard the sound of thick ice cracking. Shego used that opening to leap and run up along his ice slide, tackling Iceman off of it.

The free-for-all brawl Maleficent ignited was getting even closer, far too close for comfort. Lucifer jumped off Tremaine's lap with a snarl and she stood up to look around. Nearby, Captain Hook was deep into a sword duel with some blue-furred goblin with a demon-like tail, who wielded _TWO_ swords with consummate skill. Yet Hook was able to fend him off, using his hook as a second weapon to block a thrust when needed. Then, all of a sudden, the furry goblin vanished in a puff of putrid smoke, only for a second burst of such smoke to appear from nowhere right behind Hook. Hook seemed to predict this, however, and spun to launch a kick behind him as the one called Nightcrawler rematerialized. "Not so fast, ye scurvy little elf-beast!" roared Hook as he charged with a sword thrust.

But though her fellow villains seemed capable of holding their own, the same couldn't quite be said of their heroic rivals. There was a loud crash nearby. Tremaine turned in its direction, only to see Mr. Incredible go sailing by and crash into the far wall. Tremulous footfalls clued Tremaine in on where to look to find who could do that to him. That huge thug with the domed helmet stomped forward, looking to where he had sent Mr. Incredible sailing, smirking insufferably.

That smirk was wiped off his face by, of all people, Tinker Bell. Flying up to his helmet with a mustard bottle, the fairy squeezed its contents right into one of the eyeholes. As the Juggernaut howled and swore, trying to get the gunk off his face, Tinker Bell flew back and shouted something herself. Granted, this being Tinker Bell, there was no way to know exactly what. But given that she was making hand gestures that had to be censored by Mickey Mouse symbols, one could hazard a guess.

Eventually, Juggernaut got enough of the mustard out of his eyes, glaring up at the fairy, who looked defiant and undaunted. "You may have heard this one, but… Don't you know who I am?" spat the Juggernaut, shaking a raised fist. "I'm the…"

He never got to recite that now-clichéd line, as Maleficent practically appeared out of nowhere in her dragon form, biting down on the Juggernaut's raised fist. With his arm clamped down by her jaws, Maleficent thrashed the Juggernaut about, smashing him into the tiled floor several times before letting go and tossing him straight up.

Tremaine watched the Juggernaut crash through the roof. Bits of metal and masonry showered down soon thereafter, uncomfortably close. As uncomfortably close as these brawls were getting. Turning to her daughters and cat, Tremaine said, "I believe it is time we take our leave. There's nothing more for us here now that…" Her voice trailed off as she noticed Lucifer, Drizella and Anastasia were all ignoring her, staring straight up with nonplussed looks. "What is it? What are you…"

But when Tremaine looked up herself, all she saw was the Juggernaut's rapidly descending form directly overhead. He collapsed onto her a second later, creating a huge hole that had both of them plunging into the House of Mouse's lower levels.

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But the evening's descent into madness was not limited to the inside of the House of Mouse. Far from it. For not all of the X-Men and the people associated with them had gone into the House of Mouse tonight. Then again, perhaps those waiting outside the House of Mouse could not necessarily be called 'people'…

In the alleyways between some of the buildings surrounding the House of Mouse, shrouded in shadow, the darkness was suddenly cut through by crimson lights looming high over the concrete. As if, the glowing eyes of some gigantic, demonic beings opened up and started glowing. And indeed, these things could indeed be viewed as pure evil. Thankfully, for the X-Men, they now served a function far different from their original purpose.

"These Sentinels have been programmed to protect the X-Men and their associates," droned the huge machinations in synthesized voices. The streets below trembled as they emerged from the alleys and trudged toward the House of Mouse, weapons charged up.

But their advance was abruptly halted when something even bigger than these Sentinels tapped on the shoulder of the one furthest back, making the streets echo with a rough, metallic clanging. Slowly, the Sentinels turned around to see Alice standing there. She wasn't quite a mile tall, but she was at least twice their size. And she was leering down at them with a mischievous grin. "Good evening, gentlemen. How do you do?" she asked saccharinely. Now the streets echoed with the sound of Alice cracking her knuckles.

The most terrifying thing about Sentinels, some have said, is their utter lack of human emotion. But anyone observing those Sentinels right now, taking note of their eerie silence as their glowing eyes looked up at the colossal girl… One could almost sense fear from the machines. A notion underscored when all of them droned, "Oh dear…"

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Meanwhile, back in the House of Mouse, the situation hadn't improved all that much. Now all the chaotic fighting was unfolding _OUTSIDE_ of the ring. Charming and Phil could only watch as so many of their friends and even enemies unloaded everything they had upon their mutant 'guests'. Eventually, Phil managed to get something out, which of course was a sarcastic quip that would help no one whatsoever. "Um, would it be in poor taste to make some sort of Civil War joke?" he asked with mock innocence, just as Simba went flying by, courtesy of a telekinetic toss from Cable. And that telekinesis, forming a shield, was the only thing that saved Cable when Genie appeared right behind him to zap him.

"Probably," Charming said blankly. Frankly, at the moment, the two factions could blow off all the steam they wanted, so long as he could get his princess out of there safely. Looking back into the ring, hope began to swell back as Cinderella finally stirred. "Cinderella!" Charming cried out as she sluggishly rose to her feet. "Cinderella, might I humbly suggest that since it's past the stroke of the twelfth round, we get out of here?"

Cinderella's good eye… Still glassy, still just staring off into space, completely oblivious to the chaos erupting all around the ring. "C-C-Charming…" she slurred. "The fight, the twelfth round… S-S-S-Shadowcat… The fight… Got to f-f-f-fight…"

 _Great, she's perseverating. Clear sign of a concussion. Dad won't let me hear the end of this one, letting the mother of his future grandkids take a pounding..._ Charming lamented silently. "Cinderella, forget the fight! It's over! You survived all twelve rounds, went the distance… So let's go home!"

Cinderella fell silent for a moment, then began a slurred tirade that could somehow be heard amidst all the brawling. "Uh…y-y-y-yeah. YEAH! T-T-T-That's right!" Cinderella spluttered out through bloodied lips. "Yeah, I went the [TRUCK HORN] distance! I am a piece of [TRUCK HORN] iron! I am _INVINCIBLE_!" she finished, raising her gloved hands triumphantly into the air.

And a second later, with a thunderous smash, the forearm of a Sentinel came crashing down through the building. It landed right onto the ring, flattening both it and Cinderella.

"Goodness!" came Alice's booming cry from outside. "I do hope no one was hurt!"

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When Cinderella finally came to again, she was staring straight up, watching lights on the ceiling in a hallway pass her by. Thankfully, it turned out there was a good hospital in the vicinity of the House of Mouse, and that's where she was rushed after nearly getting crushed to death under a giant robot arm. And now, now that the emergency surgery was done and there was no more need of intensive care, Cinderella was being wheeled to her hospital room. The medical workers began to explain the extent of her injuries, but perhaps she was more concussed than they originally thought. It was all coming out as a jumble to her, and she hoped she hadn't sounded impolite when she asked them to repeat the litany of bad news.

"Aside from a concussion, a lot of stitched-up lacerations on your face, and pernicious bruising and swelling around your left eye," began one of the workers, which only made Cinderella roll her eyes. "There's a fractured right clavicle, your left femur is shattered in three places, your right tibia in two…"

As the list of nasty bone fractures were rattled off, Cinderella tried moving her arms and legs. As she feared, both her legs were most certainly bound in thick casts, and merely _TRYING_ to move her right arm made her entire right side explode in agony. Her right arm was in a sling, and she had been put into what felt like a figure-of-eight splint, for good reason.

"…And so, in a few days, maybe a little over a week, you can be discharged and sent back to your kingdom," said the medical worker.

"Well, that's a relief," Cinderella said weakly.

"Oh, I bet it will be a relief once you get out of here," came an apologetic reply.

Cinderella's face fell. Some instinct told her the worst news was yet to come. "And why is that?"

"Well, that brawl over at the House of Mouse… We've been inundated with new patients, and to accommodate them all, some patients will have to double up. You were among the last of the patients to get out of intensive care, so the only patient we can put you with is, well…"

Whoever the worker was, he clearly didn't want to finish that sentence. But as he had been rambling on, the portable hospital bed Cinderella was being wheeled around on had gone through the double doors of a patient room. And as the bed's angle was adjusted upwards for Cinderella, she could see exactly why he had been so reluctant to spill the bad news himself.

Right across her hospital room, also bound up in casts and stitches, was Lady Tremaine confined to the other available hospital bed.

The two of them exchanged shocked looks, but after a while, her stepmother's face twisted into that usual sadistic sneer, while Cinderella's shocked expression was practically frozen in place. Cinderella had thought that Tremaine seeing her go down in defeat in the ring would've been the worst humiliation her stepmother could now dole out. Now, for some reason, Cinderella had a nasty feeling that all those years stuck as her servant would pale in comparison to being stuck with her these next few days. They were now on equal footing, but there was the potential for that making things _WORSE_.


	3. Bullets and Bowels

Antisocial Behavior

A very disturbing Cinderella story

Chapter 3: Bullets and Bowels

5-29-2016

By Grey-X

Disclaimer: Cinderella and all other characters that appear in this story are the property of Disney. Including the Marvel Comics and Star Wars characters. If you still got a hair up your ass about that all these years later, go eat a bowl of dicks.

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All villains are not created equal, especially among the devious do-badders collectively known as the 'Disney' villains. It takes a special something, an extra, unique dose of vileness and perniciousness to stand out among the crowd, something Lady Tremaine always managed. All despite having absolutely no special powers whatsoever, in stark contrast to heavy-hitters like Maleficent, Chernabog and Hades.

 _Not to mention, I doubt you'd catch any of them languishing in a hospital, half of their bones broken,_ Tremaine fumed inwardly as she stared across her hospital room, glowering at its other occupant. In fact, if anyone were to attribute any special ability to Tremaine, aside from her cunning and talent for manipulation, it would be how it felt like she could bore holes through you with her madness-inducing glare alone. The type that gave recurring nightmares to the very youngest in their audiences.

Unfortunately, Tremaine was learning the hard way that the more you used that soul-withering stare, the less effective it became. And Cinderella, who had been subjected to the Tremaine-stare most of her life… Tremaine could shoot straw wrappers across the hospital room, and it would possibly prove more effective.

And Cinderella, having a greater natural talent for snark than she and her fellow princesses would ever admit, infuriatingly rubbed it in with zero effort. "Hmmm, by my clock over here, it's been about five hours and twenty minutes since you last tried staring me down nonstop. If you intend to make my hellish during this brief time we're together again, may I suggest your old bag of tricks might not cut it?" And Cinderella said all that evenly, without a hint of passion, as if she could just brush her off!

To make matters worse, Cinderella wasn't even looking at her! This whole time Tremaine tried to stare her down, Cinderella's attention had been elsewhere. Oh, it was clear Cinderella knew what she was trying to do, but she simply didn't care! Tremaine was supposed to know better than anyone else what made this girl tick, but countless hours of being malevolently stared down was failing where one withering glance the other night had Cinderella unglued! And to drive the point home further, the morning sun was finally peering through the clouds and through the blinds, highlighting Cinderella's angelic look. Which even the bruising and lingering puffiness around her eye couldn't diminish. That beast freed in the ring against an X-Man the other night… No trace of her now! Just that insufferably pure slip of a girl, the bane of her very existence!

 _Oh no, I won't accept that what happened in that arena was a fluke,_ Tremaine thought sourly. _The monster I saw let loose that night, I will see it unchained again!_ Just the thought of getting that fool girl to drop that mask of serenity once more… It was the only hope Tremaine had to cling to right then, what with half her body screaming in silent agony. And perhaps, just like how Cinderella found it easier to shrug off her glare each time it was leveled at her, it would get easier to loose Cinderella's wild side with each successful attempt.

That would take time, careful planning, and determination. For the moment, best to remain patient, play along with this aloofness Cinderella was banking on. "Speaking of abandoning what's… old, what is that you're dithering with, my child?" Tremaine enquired. "Clearly an electronic device of some sort…"

Cinderella finally looked up and made eye contact. Still, meeting her gaze did not faze the girl in the least. In fact, she actually smiled back at her! And then, Cinderella held up some shiny, black device with a huge screen plastered on front. Tremaine had to squint to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her, but… It looked like some sort of rendered image of herself was moving across it! Yes, a perfect likeness of Lady Tremaine! "Tell me, have you gotten any care packages yet?" Cinderella jeered. Tremaine said nothing, her face remaining stone. If the girl thought a feeble jab about having friends that would pour out sympathy more readily than Tremaine's fellow villains would pierce her armor, she was sadly mistaken. "Someone sent me a PSP with the new Kingdom Hearts game. We finally have our own level!" she finished with another insufferable grin.

Tremaine just stared blankly at… herself being shown in a cutscene. So this was how the girl intended to tune her out? Pretend she wasn't even there while trudging along in some video game, no doubt with her game counterpart suffering a grisly fate for her amusement! This was what she was doing for the last day or so, ever since the two of them got flattened back at the House of Mouse? Cinderella's mere existence filled Tremaine with fury, and the girl kept finding new ways to grate on her nerves without even trying!

 _No… Patience!_ Tremaine scolded herself. _Another opportunity to flip the tables and have this fool girl in tears will present itself! One always does…_ But at the moment, there was no denying the two of them were on equal footing, perhaps for the first time in their lives. No condemning this fool girl to hard labor, but no royal guards in sight to protect the princess. They only had their wits to use against each other, but unfortunately, so far Cinderella was winning said battle of wits with minimal effort. No, patience. The right opportunity would come, it had to come…

A rattling noise from above knocked Tremaine out of her silent fuming. It seemed to be coming from the wall directly behind her, a notion confirmed when Cinderella shut off her PSP and looked up. "What's that… on the other side of the vent?" Cinderella thought aloud. Tremaine's unease grew when she heard the vent cover clatter to the floor. Tremaine strained to look up, but the brace around her neck made head movement difficult, and what little was possible was excruciating. Made even worse when something rotund and furry bounced off of it and _into_ her lap.

Rubbing her aching head, Tremaine forced her eyes to open as she glared down at whatever just barged in uninvited. Her ire, however, faded when she saw Lucifer sitting there on her hospital bed. His usual smugness was absent, though. In fact, Lucifer was wheezing and stretching, no doubt agonizing over all the vents he had to crawl through because of the hospital's policy about pets.

 _Still, this is a boon for me. No longer is it just me and the girl,_ Tremaine thought wickedly as she began stroking her cat. Normally, Lucifer relished the attention, but he was still in too much discomfort to pay much notice. Not caring all that much at the moment, Tremaine looked back over to Cinderella. She scowled for a moment, seeing that Cinderella had turned her attention back to her PSP, but she swiftly put back on her smoothest expression. "Well now, are here I thought that it would be just you and me," she said smoothly. "But it seems Lucifer would not be kept away. He wanted to be here to…help out in our time of need." Tremaine continued to stroke Lucifer, hoping that the cat was over the ordeal and fixing a smarmy stare at Cinderella as well. He had better be.

Cinderella didn't even look up. "Hmmm, that's nice," was all she said, in the most nonchalant manner Tremaine had ever heard. Tremaine fought to keep herself from scowling again. An effort that became far more difficult when Cinderella went on after a long pause. "Anyway, if that was a thinly-veiled threat to have Lucifer cause me mischief just like in the old days, it's hardly a concern."

Tremaine couldn't believe her string of bad luck. Bad enough her body was broken and battered because of that accursed Juggernaut. But with Cinderella suffering a similar fate, and getting pushed beyond her limits in a boxing ring to boot, she had no right to be so insouciant. As if she hadn't a worry in the world.

 _But why… Why would Lucifer having free reign while she's got a litany of broken bones not give her pause? How could…_ Tremaine's train of thought derailed when she noticed slight movement on the nightstand to Cinderella's left. Standing atop it were two brown mice. A thin one wearing red, and a rotund one wearing yellow. And those two vermin were… _WAVING_ at her and Lucifer was obnoxious grins!

"Given how the silence between us has gotten more awkward, I can only assume you noticed Jaq and Gus," Cinderella said dryly, still not looking up from her PSP. "They found their way in around this time yesterday morning. They offered to launch a preemptive strike, mess with the controls for your bed and stuff. But I convinced them they needn't do anything unless Lucifer showed up to cause trouble."

The fool girl tried to make it sound like she _OWED_ her!? That the only reason she had no further troubles here was because she decreed it so!? _No, do not lose your composure. Remain calm, remain in control,_ Tremaine told herrself. Out loud, she said. "So…you feel those two mice are enough to counter Lucifer? Were they, back in the old days?"

"Well, if you're convinced they can't pull their weight like before, feel free to set Lucifer loose on them," said Cinderella. Now her nonchalance was starting to get creepy. "He looks like he could use the exercise anyway."

Tremaine felt Lucifer growl in her lap. And when two those rodents blew raspberries from across the room… Tremaine winced as Lucifer sprang off her broken leg. Newtonian physics was a cruel mistress indeed. He leaped up onto Cinderella's nightstand, but the mice were already on the move, skittering across her bed. Lucifer then jumped onto Cinderella's fractured leg and sprang off it. There was a soft but sharp hiss from Cinderella as she sucked in some air, but otherwise she ignored Lucifer, still fixated on that insipid game.

The chase went to the floor, as the three of them ran circles around the room. Tremaine couldn't help but wonder if this was how all the proxy wars between Lucifer and Cinderella's animal minions went. _Well, for the moment, Lucifer has them on the run,_ Tremaine mused. But then, she remembered those two vermin were instrumental in Cinderella's first attempt to thwart her restructuring of time. However, just as Tremaine was about to shout out a warning, Lucifer chased the mice through the bathroom's open door. What followed were strange thwipping and sucking sounds.

Tremaine's puzzlement only grew when Lucifer stormed out of the bathroom with a dejected look. And he had good reason, given how a multitude of plungers were now stuck to his body. Growling to himself again, though more softly this time, he leapt back up onto Tremaine's bed. Grabbing one plunger that had almost gone up his butt between his teeth, Lucifer pulled mightily, and wailed as it was roughly pried loose.

This time, Tremaine couldn't keep the bewilderment off her face, and looked back up to Cinderella. All while _STILL_ never looking up from that PSP, the princess said, "Yeah, a couple weeks ago I hooked Jaq and Gus up with that inventive mouse from the Rescue Rangers. Just in case they and Lucifer ever met again…"

At last, it dawned on Tremaine that if she wanted the upper hand against Cinderella this time, she would _TRULY_ have to plumb the deepest depths of her cunning and wickedness.

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As he sat at the foot of Cinderelly's bed, Jaq could only watch coldly as Lucifee ostentatiously marched back and forth across the middle of the hospital room, returning a cold glare of his own. It was much like when Lucifer jeeringly stood in the way of what the mice once needed to make Cinderelly's dress. This time, though, there was no sardonic grin on the cat's face. At least Jaq could take some small solace from that. Lucifee and his mistress didn't hold all the cards this time, and he knew it. Hence the pompous display of guarding Tremaine's side of the room.

Lucifee had pretty much done that the entire time Cinderelly and Tremaine had gone to physical therapy a few hours ago. He didn't pounce on them while the humans were gone, for fear that he and Gus still had tricks up their sleeve. Still, there was no point of trying anything on Tremaine's side of the room. As with Cinderelly and her stepmother, it was a stalemate, plain and simple.

Lucifee kept up the front even after the humans returned. Jaq could also take heart in that while Cinderelly looked refreshed after physical therapy, Tremaine looked rather winded. _That's what you get after years of making Cinderelly do all the hard work,_ Jaq thought to himself with a grin, looking up from Lucifee's marching to Tremaine's bed. Naturally, at the moment, Tremaine was ignoring that Cinderelly's mouse friends were even there, her nose deep in some book. Almost as if, she had simply given up hope on gaining any edge over Cinderelly. At least, that's how it would've looked to anyone who hadn't observed Tremaine and Cinderelly for years. Oh no, she was planning something, or waiting for an opportunity, Jaq could sense it…

An anguished cry from the other side of the bed made Jaq scowl all over again. While he kept watching Tremaine and Lucifee like a hawk, Gus was…proving easily distracted. Again. Sighing, he scurried along the side of Cinderelly's bed to see what Gus was fussing over. When Jaq reached the nightstand, he found that Gus was struggling to hold up Cinderelly's PSP, and had an even more furious scowl than his.

"Can't believe it… Gus-Gus not in this game at all!" Gus sneered at the screen. "There's Cinderelly, Lucifee, Jaq-Jaq… but no Gus-Gus!"

Jaq could only facepalm. Cinderelly was stuck in here with that sadistic hag of a stepmother, and _THAT_ was what Gus was worried about the most!? _At least Cinderelly's still putting up a brave front,_ Jaq noted hopefully, looking up at his friend. Having had enough of trolling Tremaine by ignoring her in favor of playing that PSP, Cinderelly was simply reading a newspaper instead. Which had the added benefit of blocking her stepmother from view altogether. Curious as to what Cinderelly was reading, Jaq scampering up her left arm, pretty much the only limb of hers that wasn't covered in bandages or a cast. When he reached her shoulder, he was horrified to discover Cinderelly was reading…the sports section. Specifically, the pages about her boxing match and a recap about it. At the distance Cinderelly held the paper, it was hard to make out the small print. Unfortunately, the look in Cinderelly's still-bruised and slightly puffy eye… It was all too clear that what was being written about her was getting to her, despite the aloof front she put up just hours ago. Jaq was doubly grateful for the newspaper keeping Tremaine from getting a good look at Cinderelly.

Of course, that meant he and Cinderelly couldn't keep an eye on Tremaine and Lucifee either. And when Jaq heard Tremaine slam her book shut, he quickly scampered back over to the nightstand. Whatever she was going to do next… He and Gus had to keep an eye on her, be ready for anything…

Just as he made it there, she was transferring herself to a wheelchair. "Well, my child, since it's still a few hour until dinner is served, I believe I'll be going elsewhere until then," said Tremaine smoothly.

"Oh, are you?" Cinderelly replied with equal smoothness, lowering her paper to smirk quizzically at her stepmother.

"Oh yes. I hear there's some live entertainment being provided here, some standup routine courtesy of a volunteer," said Tremaine as she rolled her wheelchair close to the door. "I'd invite you to join me, but as I suspected, you seem content to read scathing recaps of your disastrous boxing match with Kitty Pryde. If you're still perseverating, perhaps that concussion was worse than your physicians thought," she finished silkily, glancing down at Cinderelly's paper. Jaq's face fell as Cinderelly couldn't help but glance down at what she inadvertently showed her stepmother. Tremaine made a wild guess about what Cinderelly was reading, and hit the bull's-eye.

For the moment, Cinderelly's was nonplussed, unsure of what to fire back with, and Tremaine seized that opening. "I understand how galling it must be, to be eviscerated in the press after training for months and giving that fight everything you had. Almost as galling as the realization of how necessary such a venture was in the first place."

Now the glare Cinderelly's was fixing her stepmother with was more challenging than flummoxed. A good sign, but Jaq feared Tremaine was saving the worst for last. She finally found an opening, and knowing Tremaine, she'd milk it for all it was worth.

"It's time to face facts, Cinderella. The world we find ourselves in… It has changed a great deal, and in many ways, it has passed you by. Your kind of story, your kind of message… It really has no place anymore in today's environment. The fact that our world had to be joined by those Marvels simply underscores that fact. These days, it's not heroines who simply get through adversity with hope and love that people wish to hear about. No, now people expect their heroines to command the elements and blast whoever's in their way with lighting, or become absurdly tall green wrecking machines, or choke the life out of some poor soul with invisible forcefields, or… Well, I think you get the idea," Tremaine finished with another nasty smirk.

Cinderelly's gaze was still challenging, steely. But Jaq knew Cinderelly better than most of the mice, and knew her stepmother's words were hitting home regardless. She was basically hammering home was Cinderelly had been mulling about anyway. Still, the days where Cinderelly would simply take the abuse were over. "Ah, so you're saying I went with the boxing match because I felt I had no choice, even after the X-Men showed up?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, my dear," Tremaine said evilly. "To compete in this new environment, having another adventure where one jumps off a carriage will not suffice." Despite herself, Cinderelly scowled again. She was getting _VERY_ tired of people dwelling on that. "Hence, agreeing to all that training. But as we saw, a bit of weight training and practice at hand-to-hand combat doesn't put you on the same plane as these superheroines. Even when they _DON'T_ use their superpowers! And even before those Marvels showed up… Mulan, Kida, that new girl who can use a frying pan and her _HAIR_ as deadly weapons… Obsolescence was becoming your fate well before any X-Woman crossed your path. And to be honest…I don't know whether to feel cheated or overjoyed. In the end, I didn't need to break you. Changing times and irrelevance did it for me."

For her part, Cinderelly's face remained a serene mask, almost like carved marble. No way to truly tell if she was reeling and seething at a glance, but Jaq knew her too well. She wasn't so weak that she'd crumble from this, though. She'd eaten worse from her stepmother. But being weak didn't mean Cinderelly couldn't feel the sting of such words. Strength and courage, all too often, meant the opposite.

The two women stared each other down a few moments more. Then, to Jaq's surprise, it was Tremaine who broke eye contact, looking down to her cat. "Lucifer, come! You can hide under a blanket on my lap." When Lucifee didn't immediate hop up, Tremaine snapped, "There is nothing here those mice can sabotage that we cannot check for ourselves. Now come!"

With one last defiant glare aimed up at Jaq, Lucifee marched across the hospital room and did as Tremaine bid. But as Tremaine had rolled halfway out the door, Cinderelly finally spoke up. "Stepmother," she said simply. The wheelchair skid to a halt. "If I, and my entire life story, has been rendered obsolete by modern times… What does that say about the one who tried to break me for years and failed?"

Cinderelly hadn't even been looking Tremaine's way, as if voicing that was an afterthought. A display of cool insouciance. The kind that cut Tremaine to the quick. Glowering at her stepdaughter one last time, Tremaine finally wheeled her way out and slammed the door behind her.

Hanging her head, Cinderelly exhaled with relief. As Jaq feared, Tremaine driving home what Cinderelly had been mulling over for months had cut deep. Refusing to let that stand, Jaq scurried over and stood on Cinderelly's knee. "Don't listen to her, Cinderelly. She just a sore loser. Every time she's there to try and break Cinderelly, it's lose lose lose. And this time, a lot of broken bones for her trouble. And if she tries to give Cinderelly any more trouble, us mice-mice are here to give her double the trouble!" That is, if Gus would ever pull himself away from that PSP. He was _STILL_ over on that nightstand, scowling at the screen!

Cinderelly opened her eyes to look warmly down on Jaq. "Oh, I'm sure you two will," she said with a smile, but it soon faded almost completely. "But as for her broken bones… Well, in case you missed it, I'm sporting quite a few myself. And because of them, we're all stuck together the next few days. And even when we're out of here… Like it or not, she's right, Jaq. Maybe… maybe happily ever after isn't quite the perfect ending to a story after all. Because even when your life changes for the better, other things can keep changing, too…"

Jaq wasn't sure what to say about that. Tremaine _COULDN'T_ win this latest war of words and attrition, she just couldn't. But as the mouse pondered his options, he became dimly aware of a strange prickling in his fur. Strange but familiar, and if it was what Jaq suspected… Something that brought discomfort along with possible hope.

"Oh, brother," Jaq muttered as he looked around. Sure enough, a sparkly ball of light and energy had appeared in the middle of the hospital room, nearly blinding them. Then, at last, the sparkly light faded, to reveal none other than Cinderelly's Fairy Godmother. "Oh great, Cinderelly can't be feeling _THAT_ close to giving up hope!" Jaq grumbled. The Fairy Godmother could only appear if hope remained in your heart, but only when its light was in danger of fading completely did she tend to be drawn out.

Cinderelly looked up just as the Fairy Godmother had fully materialized. "Agreed. This is _COMPLETELY_ different from when it looked like there'd be no night at the ball for me," she said blankly.

"Nevertheless, it looks like you could use a little help all the same, my child," said the Fairy Godmother sweetly. Jaq bristled a little. Something…unusual always happened to him while she was around. But it sounded like she was here for one reason and one reason only. "For starters, just a wave of a wand, and all those bones can be mended, leaving a certain stepmother to stew in her own bitterness…"

Now _THAT_ sounded like a dream come true to Jaq! Getting stuck with Tremaine and Lucifee again wasn't exactly Jaq's idea of a good time. Unfortunately, Cinderelly didn't look quite so elated. "Until midnight I'd wager, when they'd all shatter again," she said dully.

"Well, uh, not exactly, my child," the Fairy Godmother said quickly. "But you see, we could…"

"Fairy Godmother, don't get me wrong, it's always good to see you again," Cinderelly went on. "But this is one of those times that magic won't fix a thing, especially when it'll amount to running away from a problem rather than fixing it."

"M-M-M-My dear, you should know better than to take the ramblings of that, t-t-t-that sociopath to heart!" the Fairy Godmother stammered in protest.

"Vile as she can be, Fairy Godmother, she was right about a few things," said Cinderelly, though that admittance clearly tore at her soul. "Perhaps tales like ours… aren't worth telling anymore. That doesn't mean that trying to escape the fallout of _TRYING_ to make it in this new world with Marvels will improve anything for any of us."

"Maybe I was wrong, my dear. It sounds like you _HAVE_ given up hope after all!" the Fairy Godmother spat back.

"Call it a reluctance to take the easy way out of a situation where Stepmother and I are on equal footing. Well what footing there can be when both of us are in wheelchairs," Cinderelly went on with a dry laugh. "The moral quandaries aside, about having a few shattered bones mended and skipping off while others in here are slowly dying of cancer or something, I won't give her the satisfaction of knowing I used Fairy Godmother magic as an escape hatch, rather than tackle her mind games head-on."

"Oh, it's getting clear you haven't learned a thing!" the Fairy Godmother fumed, storming about the hospital room. "You let your face get tenderized the other night because you felt the times called for it, and now you're risking letting that stepmother of yours get into your head all over again!? And for what, sheer pride!? Just to say that you can beat Lady Tremaine at her own game?"

That last bit from the Fairy Godmother seemed to make something shine in Cinderelly's eyes. Not a warm light, like reflected hope, however. No, something that made Jaq's fur prickle all over again.

"Beat her…at her own game," Cinderelly replied, mostly to herself. "Yes, I hadn't really thought of it in those terms before. Clearly, I'm not really cut out for physical combat if it lands me in here, falling robot body parts or no…"

"You went the distance in a boxing match with an _X-WOMAN_! One that knew ninjitsu, at that!" shrilled her Fairy Godmother. "Most _MEN_ can't even claim to have done something that crazy, let alone princesses…"

"I've already been doing my best to drive her mad with cool indifference, and up until a few minutes ago it had worked. But maybe, just maybe, there's another way to settle things once and for all. Show her I'm not afraid to play dirty," Cinderelly went on, ignoring her. "So what if I can't compete with our new 'friends' among the Marvels physically? Even this Kitty Pryde doesn't get by on her ninjitsu skills alone. No, she has other means…"

"Yes yes yes, she's a computer genius on top of walking through walls and punching in faces," the Fairy Godmother agreed reluctantly. "That's not the point. You want to prove you can equal that Kitty in other ways? Please don't do it by trapping yourself with the borderline sociopath that knows how to get into your head like none other. With that odious Deadpool being on the premises on top of that!"

Jaq had no idea what that last bit met, and Cinderelly was just as flummoxed. "Deadpool?" she repeated, the frustration out of her voice. "Why Fairy Godmother, who is this…Deadpool?"

"Well, he's not an X-Man for certain, or even a mutant, but he's closely associated with them," said the Fairy Godmother. "He's a mercenary of the worst sort. A lecherous, amoral, unpredictable psychopath that's little more than a walking tumor underneath that horrid costume! That talks. A lot. Given how quickly he regenerates, he's not here to recuperate, to be certain. No, supposedly he's here to entertain people hurt in the House of Mouse debacle. But just knowing your occupying the same building as that mental case… I-I-I-I just can't…"

She trailed off when she noticed Cinderelly staring at her, eyes wide with shock. Jaq could guess why. Then, suddenly, Cinderelly gave in to a violent fit of laughter, one that flung Jaq to the foot of the bed. And she kept laughing, until the way it aggravated her battered and broken body couldn't be ignored. Wincing as she hissed through gritted teeth, she turned back to her Fairy Godmother. "You mean… Stepmother went to see a comedy routine by someone too crazy for the X-Men!?" she shrieked with delight. "Oh, if I could only see her face when she finds out…"

"Yes yes yes, as amusing as that may be, perhaps it might be best to ferret you elsewhere, away from the both of them?" the Fairy Godmother suggested delicately.

But once again, Cinderelly was clearly tuning her out. "And you said this Deadpool fellow… He is a mercenary of sorts?" Jaq couldn't really see Cinderelly well from the extreme angle at the foot of her bed. But what he could make out… The gears were turning in her head. Usually, seeing her plot to thwart her family was a good thing, but right then, it gave Jaq the chills. "Then I'd wager, given how… unstable you make him out to be, Deadpool's brought along his weapons, hospital security guidelines be damned."

Jaq was aghast at her sudden interest in weapons. That was _NOT_ how Cinderelly worked. And Gus clearly felt the same way. He _FINALLY_ got over grumping about that PSP game and scurried up to Cinderelly's left shoulder. "Wanting weapons? Guns? That's not like Cinderelly, not the Cinderelly's us mice-mice always knew!"

Cinderelly reached up to gently stroke Gus's head. "Oh don't be silly, Gus. I don't need any of Deadpool's guns. Rather, I merely need some of his…ammunition."

"Ammunition?" the Fairy Godmother repeated dubiously. "You mean…bullets? Child, if it's not guns you desire, why on Earth would you need…"

"So Gus, Jaq… The more things change, the more they stay the same," Cinderelly went on, ignoring her Fairy Godmother yet again. "Given my present condition, I'm hardly in any position to… borrow some of Deadpool' ammunition. I hate to ask but… Are you two up for yet another retrieval job?"

Gus nodded enthusiastically, but Jaq still had reservations. Oh, not about helping Cinderelly get her hands on something that only they mice could retrieve. He was just uneasy about this newfound willingness of Cinderelly to get in the gutter with her stepmother. Still, if it ended with Tremaine and Lucifee getting humiliated and humbled yet again…

Her Fairy Godmother stepped forward yet again, opening her mouth, but Cinderelly cut her off before she could speak. "And Fairy Godmother, if you want to help, there _IS_ something else I need. Something only you could possibly retrieve in time."

"And what would that be, my child?" Fairy Godmother asked dubiously. At first, her only answer was a wicked grin from Cinderelly that would do _**MALEFICENT**_ proud…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was insane, what Cinderelly wanted to do. Too many things could go wrong. But as far as Gus could tell, if all the pieces fell into place, her stepmother would curse the day she set out to abuse and break her. High risk, high reward.

But they still had to assemble all the pieces to the puzzle, and not much time to do it in. What the Fairy Godmother had to do… That was no real worry. But given her inherently peaceful nature, retrieving anything to do with weapons and war was more or less forbidden to her. _Which means getting the bullets is up to us mice-mice!_ Gus thought proudly. Yet another crazy adventure to help Princess Cinderelly!

And so, he and Jaq made their way through the inner workings of the hospital, between the walls, across arrays of pipes. It wasn't exactly the easiest and most passable innards of a human dwelling they had worked their way through. But they had made it to Cinderelly's room before Lucifee, and now, they were making their way to the auditorium where this Deadpool fellow was doing some comedy routine.

It was dark, this place that was supposed to be underneath the stage. Rodents typically didn't have the greatest vision to begin with, so keeping his footing while walking across sheaves of wires and pipes was as difficult as ever for Gus. More than once, Jaq had to reach back and grab Gus to pull him back up. But Gus knew they were getting close. This Deadpool was supposed to be a loose-lipped chatterbox, and, well… _SOMEONE'S_ mouth was running a mile a minute on that stage above.

At last, Jaq found a small hole in the floorboards above, and promptly squeezed through. Naturally, it was a tight fit for Gus, and Jaq had to pull the rotund mouse out. When Jaq finally pulled Gus free, Gus slammed into him, making the two roll across the stage. As they untangled themselves, the mice found themselves uncomfortably close to a pair of red-and-black boots that were constantly shuffling across the stage. Looking up in case they had to avoid this guy's feet, Gus saw this he was covered head to toe in some bizarre red-and-black suit. And the black splotches over the white eyelets… They seemed to _MOVE_ expressively!

"And then I announced in no uncertain terms… 'I'm touching myself tonight!'" said Deadpool with mic in hand, oblivious to the mice at his feet. And if Lucifee was hiding under that blanket still, hopefully he would be too. At any rate, whatever the punch line was for Deadpool's last… statement, it must've been good, because the whole audience erupted in laughter.

Well, almost everyone. Looking out into the audience, Gus saw Tremaine in her wheelchair. It seemed she was the _ONLY_ one not laughing one bit. On the contrary, she looked absolutely disgusted and mortified, as if she wanted to sink into that wheelchair so no one saw her at Deadpool's little show. Gus wondered if she had even yet to learn Deadpool had connections to the X-Men.

A paw on Gus's shoulder, pulling him back, made him look to behind the stage. Somewhere back there, hopefully, Deadpool had stashed some of his weapons and ammunition, hospital security be damned.

Sure enough, stowed behind the back curtains, were a couple of duffel bags stuffed to the brim. Hopefully, it would be a simple matter to squeeze in, take a few bullets, and get out before Deadpool was any wiser. Jaq unzipped part of one bag just enough to wiggle his way in.

Gus was about to follow Jaq, but suddenly he heard Deadpool's voice boom the absolute _LAST_ thing he ever expect the mercenary to utter. "And you, little lady, heard you were married twice. Well, maybe third time's the charm." And in the most suggestive tone Gus had heard a human use, ever. Looking back, there Deadpool was, out in the audience. Squatting next to Tremaine's wheelchair, an arm over her shoulder, his head practically inches from Tremaine's. And with the way his mask mimicked facial expressions… It was clear he was repeatedly raising his eyebrows. As for Tremaine… She was disgusted before, but now looked ready to explode.

Even if they didn't find any bullets for Cinderelly, just seeing that made the trip worthwhile. Gus just hoped Lucifee didn't try to defend his mistress's honor. Healing powers or no, Deadpool didn't need to go through that.

Fortunately, it wasn't too hard to find loose magazines, extract some bullets, and get out of the duffel bag. They had grabbed as many as they could possibly hold. But just like with kernels of corn back at the chateau, holding _ONTO_ them while running for dear life was a bit of a challenge. To make things worse, it's not like they could navigate the path they took here with armfuls of bullets. Thankfully, Cinderelly was waiting nearby to retrieve them. So, the two mice skittered back across the stage to the front, carefully jumping down the stairs at the sides. Jaq, naturally, had no trouble. But as fate would have it, one of the bullets Gus was holding popped loose as he jumped off the last step, and his foot landed right on top of it. Gus caught a quick glimpse of Jaq's _'Really, Gus?'_ look as Gus sailed by, trying to keep balance on a spinning bullet, until he slammed face-first into a wall, ammunition scattering everywhere.

Mercifully, judging by how Deadpool's mouth was _STILL_ running at full speed, and the audience was still laughing, no one was the wiser. But the dreadful silence from Tremaine's cold fury was still louder than all of that. Wanting nothing more than to get out of that auditorium, Gus scrambled to pick up all the dropped bullets, then hauled ass after Jaq. All the attendees were still too transfixed by Deadpool's act to notice a couple mice boosting his ammunition. And Tremaine was no doubt glaring daggers at the merc with a mouth.

In no time at all, Gus and Jaq were back out in the hospital halls, where Cinderelly was waiting in her wheelchair. She was only a few yards away, motioning for them to climb aboard so she could ferret them away. The coast was clear, the heist was going off without a hitch, so Gus sped along the edge of the wall, daring to hope Cinderelly's scheme could reach fruition…

And then there was a flash of light, and a moment later, something was suddenly thrust right in front of Gus. Once again, bullets flew everywhere as he slammed into something quite solid. But this time, it felt…cold. Like steel. Looking up, he saw what looked to be a… sword? Thrust right into where the wall and floor met. As he looked to find just who could've stuck it there, Gus gulped as he that Deadpool had appeared out of nowhere, now leaning uncomfortably close to Cinderelly!

"Now then, beautiful," said Deadpool, but there was no flirtatiousness in his voice now. "The reason you had your critters boost some ammo… Could it be because you plan something senseless and irresponsible, something unbecoming of a princess of you stature, and could get you publicly executed in most countries? Or Jacksonville, Florida?" Oh no, now Deadpool sounded serious. Dead serious, wanting answers.

And Cinderelly had no idea how to respond to this wacko, frozen in shock as her eyes went wide while Deadpool hovered over her. "Well, sort of…"

And in a flash, Deadpool's entire demeanor shifted. He tapped his fingertips together, looking positively giddy. "Oh goody goody goody, just checking. Do continue, then. But do do me a favor and snap some pictures of whatever chaos ensues. And do tell your stepmother to call me once she's out of the hospital and ready to… experiment." He finished with a guttural tiger growl. Still frozen in place, Cinderelly could only move her eyes, looking down at Gus. He could only shrug his shoulders. Sometimes humans were hard to figure out, but even by human standards, this Deadpool was just… off. But Deadpool wasn't finished. "Oh, and speaking of photos…" As with Tremaine, Deadpool reached in to sling his arm around Cinderelly. "SELFIE!" he cried as he whipped out his smartphone and snapped a picture, just as Cinderelly's gaze nervously swept his way.

For a few moments, Cinderelly was still hopelessly frozen from shock, even after Deadpool retrieved his sword and skipped off down the hospital's halls. It took Jaq climbing up to her shoulder to snap her out of it. "Cinderelly! If show's over, your stepmother and Lucifee'll be coming out! Got to move!"

Thankfully, Cinderelly got the hint quick. "Right, right! Gus, got all the bullets up?" He had just scooped up the last of the stolen ammunition , and ran to dump them in a satchel hidden behind Cinderelly's cast-bound right foot. Gus held on for dear life as Cinderelly took off in her wheelchair, with him still standing on its foot guard. He slid behind her foot next to the satchel, occasionally peeking out as Cinderelly sped through the hospital. It wasn't exactly an unpleasant ride, but Gus knew they had very little time to get everything in place. And for the next phase, they had to conduct their business in a place Tremaine wouldn't stumble upon them.

Naturally, Cinderelly chose the garden in the hospital's interior courtyard, where the flowers were all in full bloom. Hopefully, the bountiful beauty of nature with repel the old hag that that weirdo Deadpool wanted to… Gus vehemently shook his head, hoping he'd forget about all that by tomorrow. "Gus, the satchel," he heard Cinderelly say, snapping him back to the present. Looking out from behind her foot, Gus saw Cinderelly's fingers wiggle. Grabbing the satchel and pushing it out into her hand, Gus then scurried up to her shoulder, where Jaq had hidden in her hair. They looked down to the plate Cinderelly had on her lap. On it, she worked on the first round, using a pair of pliers the mice stole from a toolbox beforehand. It wasn't hard, and soon the bullet part was removed, the gunpowder was dumped all over the plate. Then Cinderelly was busy with the next one…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Any respect Tremaine may still have had for these Marvels had been expulsed from her being with the vehemence of projectile vomit. That oaf Juggernaut… it wasn't his fault that Maleficent caused his overly voluminous person to come crashing down on her. But if those Marvels counted that uncouth mercenary among their number… Tremaine shuddered, unable to banish the lewd jokes Deadpool kept making from her mind. That was bad enough, but then Deadpool had the gall to be so… _FORWARD_ with her!

"Small wonder Cinderella had such trouble when thrown in the ring with one of those Marvels. Being able to tolerate such a… _THING_ as an ally speaks volumes about their collective mental state," Tremaine grumbled as she wheeled her way back to their room. She heard Lucifer grumble in her lap, still concealed by a blanket. She practically had to silently will Lucifer to not expose himself and maul that horrid excuse of a man. What good would it have done when dealing with someone who, on top of being the poster child for crudeness, was best known for not dying?

But as they neared the door to their room, Tremaine felt Lucifer tense. "Lucifer, keep calm!" Tremaine hissed through gritted teeth. But this time, Lucifer refused to obey, poking his head out to look at something. Following her cat's gaze, Tremaine spotted a cart being used to carry prepared meals. Specifically, meals for Cinderella and herself.

For a moment, Tremaine reflected on just how weird it was that _BOTH_ of them were being waited on hand and foot, in a manner of speaking. But then she noticed how uptight Lucifer still was. It wasn't just hunger that had Lucifer worked up, it couldn't have been. No, there was an aura of bloodlust about him, and the way vehemently sniffed the air…

"Ah, I see. Those mice," said Tremaine. Given how the nursing assistant was in their room attending other matters at the moment, Tremaine lifted the lid on one plate. No mouse lingering within. No, Cinderella wasn't going to pull that practical joke for real this time. She was just about to put the lid back down, but something caught Tremaine's watchful eye. Some sort of powdery substance on the edge of the plate, and rather dark at that. And what was that in it? A shape? A…pawprint?

Scooping it up with her fingertip and sniffing it, Tremaine's brow furrowed. "Gunpowder," she muttered. "So, my stepdaughter had her rodent minions appropriate some of that Deadfool's ammunition, extract the gunpowder, and lace my dinner with it?" As galling as that was, Tremaine couldn't help but smile. "I'm almost impressed, Cinderella. Rather than have those mice cause mischief in our room, you sent them elsewhere to do your dirty work. And an unexpected willingness to sink to such depths… Clever, stepdaughter, but not clever enough." Looking down at the slip next to the plate, she saw that, indeed, this dish was meant for her. With a wicked grin, Tremaine quickly switched the plates, then wheeled herself back in, effortlessly putting on an innocent face.

It wasn't long before Cinderella herself wheeled her way back in as well. After transferring herself back into her bed, their nursing assistant helped set up their meals. Lucifer and those two mice just stared at each other from across the room, though Lucifer's face thankfully didn't let on that their scheme was uncovered. And as was the case last night, they ate in silence, not saying a word to each other, hardly ever looking in each other's direction. Which suited Tremaine just fine. Despite a lifetime of practice when it came to deception, she didn't even trust herself to let slip too soon how she uncovered Cinderella's ploy. No, such a revelation had to come at just the right time. The few times Tremaine glanced over a Cinderella though, watching for telltale signs of her trap backfiring on her, she noticed something odd. A small jar of…something Cinderella was spreading over her food. Whatever it was, it hadn't come with their dishes. _A minor detail,_ Tremaine told herself. _Who cares if she got something extra for herself? She's about to get more than she bargained for._

But as both of them wrapped up their meals, Cinderella abruptly broke the silence. "Gunpowder does add an awfully tangy aftertaste to a meal, doesn't it stepmother?"

At last, all the self-control Tremaine had mustered slipped away, her face twisting into the most smug grin imaginable. "Oh, I wouldn't know, my child," she said silkily. "After all, I…"

"I wasn't talking about the gunpowder that was just put in your food," Cinderella cut in, smacking her lips. "I meant what was in my dish."

Tremaine could only stare back at Cinderella blankly. _She…KNEW her dish was laced with gunpowder, and ate the whole thing anyway!?_ she wondered incredulously. Out loud, she simply said, "Care to elaborate, daughter?"

Cinderella shrugged her shoulders, which made her wince due to her shattered clavicle. Once she was over that, she merely said, "It's simple, really. I figured you may find the extra…ingredient I had Jaq and Gus add to your dinner. So in case you switched them, I told them to lace _BOTH_ dishes with gunpowder. Which was provided courtesy of that charming, outgoing mercenary who was here earlier." She finished that last bit with an insufferably smug grin of her own.

Tremaine was far too flabbergasted to care about that degenerate being mentioned again. At length, she finally found her voice again. "Y-Y-Y-You were willing to endure the same torment, just to get to me?"

"Oh, it's really of no bother to me, stepmother. You see, in the old days Drizella and Anastasia, from time to time, would add some rather unsavory stuff to what food I was provided. They say that that sort of adversity builds character? Well, for me, it built intestines of steel," Cinderella explained, pointing her left thumb at herself. "For an example… did Drizella and Anastasis tell you about that dare of theirs from last month? Wait, on second thought, it's no surprise if they neglected to mention it…"

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A month or so ago, there was an incident in Cinderella's castle. One that had Prince Charming and the Grand Duke staring blankly at the far end of the royal dining table, Anastasia and Drizella looking ready to throw up, and Prudence repeatedly smacking her head against a pillar.

And what could have caused such diverse reactions? Well, seated near Cinderella were Timon and Pumbaa, who looked ready to pass out. Cinderella's stepsisters had dared her to challenge the meerkat and warthog to a bug-eating contest. The end result? Cinderella stuffing her face with wild abandon even after Timon and Pumbaa began to falter. As the meerkat and warthog slid out of their chairs, both a sickly shade of green, Cinderella more or less ignored them as she leaned back and helped herself to another handful of beetles and worms…

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"It certainly helped add extra protein to my diet in preparation for the boxing match," Cinderella said brightly. "Oh, and if you wondered if there was any truth to the rumors of Charming importing an exorbitant supply of mouthwash, you know now."

Tremaine said nothing for a good long while. She wasn't sure what did more to stay her tongue, the way Cinderella was so flippant about laying such a foolproof trap, or that this girl she long deemed too innocent and pure to stoop to such pranks actually _DID_ it. "S-S-S-S-So you won't feel any ill effects," Tremaine forced herself to say, "w-w-w-while I-I-I…"

It hit like a tsunami, a wave of nausea and vertigo, on top of suddenly getting what could only be described as a case of bubonic super-Montezuma's Revenge. It was nothing short of a miracle, the fact that she managed to transfer herself back to her wheelchair without exploding out either end. And the trip across their hospital room… How a trek of twenty feet or so can suddenly seem like miles, where each agonized spin of your wheels feels like it'll be your last…before you soil yourself. And worst of all, when she glanced one final time over at Cinderella's bed… Though she could hear those infernal vermin laughing their asses off, Cinderella's face was as serene as it was smug. Simply smiling as she watched her stepmother's agonizing trek to the bathroom, and most surprising and frighteningly, without a hint of mercy or remorse.

Just as with the actual trek to the bathroom, the passage of time was a blur for Tremaine. Minutes? Hours? She had no idea how long it was before she could be certain it was all out. When she finally wheeled her way back out, barely able to due to feeling weak as a kitten, she caught a glimpse of her cat still perched at the foot of her bed, glaring daggers at the occupants one the other side. As expected, Cinderella was simply ignoring Lucifer, and was entirely unfazed by the death glare Tremaine herself was giving her. A death glare meant to cover up how drained she now was, physically and emotionally. Getting overconfident, falling deeper into that girl's trap, and paying a hefty price for it. _Well played, stepdaughter. This round is yours,_ Tremaine silently admitted, albeit with reluctance, as she transferred herself back into her bed. Though it was an agonizing ordeal, she refused to call a nursing assistant for help. No showing any weakness in front of her stepdaughter. At least, no more than necessary tonight.

Even in that, Tremaine feared she had failed. Though she pulled off the transfer, she was hopelessly out of breath for several minutes afterwards. Eventually, her breathing steadied, and she could focus her gaze on the other side of the room. There Cinderella was, still meeting her gaze smugly, flush with victory. Incensed, Tremaine couldn't keep the cracks from forming in her armor of regality and chilly calm. "I suppose this is the part where you gloat about how you're more dangerous than people give you credit for, and that you're not afraid to sink to unheard-of depths of depravity."

"Actually…I wasn't planning on anything of the sort," Cinderella said simply. Though there was an aura of…danger to her words. "I was just waiting on the other thing added to kick in."

Tremaine's armor, her composure, now fell away completely. "There was…something _ELSE_ put in!?" she demanded, incredulous. Tonight was going to get even _WORSE_!?

"Oh, not in your food," Cinderella replied with a sweetness that belied just how craven she had become. "Something I added to mine. That weird paste from that little jar, which you may have noticed? It was what remained of Snow White's attempt to make a new dish with Gummi Berries."

Tremaine just stared at Cinderella nonplussed for a moment, racking her brains. Then she recalled just _WHY_ Kitty Pryde stepped in for Snow White the other night. "Y-Y-You mean, the thing that put Snow White and her dwarves in the hospital as well!?" she demanded. "Why would you eat that _YOURSELF_ , if…"

Cinderella cut her off by wagging her finger. "Ah, you're already forgetting, intestines of steel. For a normal person like Snow White, severe dysentery is the end result of that new concoction. For me, all it should do is…" Cinderella's fingers flew to her lips in an ostentatious show of mock embarrassment, followed by an ominous gurgling from her stomach.

Still staring blankly at her stepdaughter, Tremaine then heard a faint shifting sound on the nightstand beside her. Tremaine looked to see that those two mice had just put on tiny gas masks. Realization hit Tremaine harder than the Juggernaut could ever have hoped to as she looked back over to Cinderella. If she had looked smug before, now she was brimming with psychopathic glee. "Y-Y-You, you _WOULDN'T_. You're a p-p-p-princess now! You could _NEVER_ stoop to such banality, and…"

And right then, in the hallway right outside their room… The imminent expulsion of incomprehensible foulness could not have been heard by any staff passing by. However, if they had listened closely, they could have heard what might be mistaken for severe emphysema setting in for an elderly patient. And perhaps anyone paying attention might have seen Lucifer jumping up onto the window, his eyes bugged-out and bloodshot, the furry face pressed up to the glass full of dread and agony. And his claws left gouges on the other side of the glass as he slid down helplessly, eventually tumbling off, succumbing to the overwhelming stank.


	4. This Force on Earth Can Move the Blob

Antisocial Behavior

A very disturbing Cinderella story

Chapter 4: This Force On Earth Can Move the Blob

8-21-2016

by Grey-X

Disclaimer: Cinderella and all other characters that appear in this story are the property of Disney. Including the Marvel Comics and Star Wars characters. If you still got a hair up your ass about that all these years later, go eat a bowl of dicks.

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Drizella impatiently drummed her fingers on the table as she waited in the hospital's cafeteria. She and her sister were supposed to have breakfast with their mother this morning, but she had yet to show up. Glancing at the clock, Drizella saw that it was almost ten, yet still no sign of their mother. Sighing in disgust, Drizella flopped down onto the table, resting her head over her arms. The sooner she and her sister got out of here, the better. After having to spend so many months in forced servitude, Drizella learned the hard way that whenever another conflict was brewing between her mother and Cinderella, she had best stay away. _FAR_ away. What strife could arise from the two of them being forced to share the same hospital room, Drizella didn't know. And she didn't _WANT_ to know. So the sooner they could have breakfast and leave, the better…

 _Then again, maybe I'm being paranoid,_ Drizella told herself. _A few days cooped up together while they're stuck in casts and slings… What's the worst they could do to each other?_ Though some nagging feeling in the back of Drizella's head told her that was wishful thinking. No, something would happen, and when it did, Drizella had no intention of being anywhere near this hospital. That thought drowned out all others. She couldn't even take any joy from seeing Cinderella flattened both figuratively and literally, since the reputation of their entire universe had rested on her shoulders. _Speaking of that, would it have been THAT hard to knock down that Pryde girl a few more times and win by decision?_ Of course, an equally nagging thought told Drizella she couldn't have hoped to last a single round, so shut your ugly face.

Yet as all sorts of tumultuous thoughts preoccupied Drizella, if her sister was dwelling on any such conflicts, she sure wasn't showing it. For despite being pegged as the less shallow of the pair, at the moment, Anastasia was fussing over the most insignificant things. "You've _GOT_ to be kidding me!" Anastasia snarled, looking down at some insipid little device in her hands. "They had to make me out as one of the _BAD GUYS_ again in this new game!? Now I know how the parrot feels! You spend _SO MUCH_ time trying to be good and doing the right thing, but NOOOOOOOOOO! You'll _ALWAYS_ be remembered as the villain!"

Drizella glanced over her shoulder as Anastasia kept pacing back and forth behind the table, her eyes glued to that stupid PSP. "Oh, go cry into your boyfriend's sourdough muffins or something," Drizella spat back, then smiled cruelly. "And look on the bright side: you new voice actress doesn't make you sound like a nasally mouse in a jumpsuit."

Anastasia grit her teeth as she snarled some more, then had the gall to rear her hand back, as if to slam that PSP in her sister's face. At first, Drizella couldn't help but to grin back insouciantly, but then, she noticed something odd about it. "Wait a second… Isn't that _CINDERELLA'S_ PSP!?"

And then, Drizella felt the weight of an unseen, cold stare bearing down on the two of them, and judging by how Anastasia suddenly tensed up, she felt it as well. But this sudden chill… It was quite different from when their mother would saunter into a room. As they slowly turned toward the cafeteria entrance, Drizella saw why. Just a few feet from their table, in her wheelchair, was Cinderella instead, lazily propping her head onto her left arm. And two of those vermin were with her as well, half-hidden by her hair. Those two rodents looked as suspicious as ever of both of them. Cinderella may have buried the hatchet with Anastasia, but those furballs weren't so forgiving. Drizella didn't want them as enemies anymore, either.

As for their stepsister… There was no anger or frustration in her features, as per usual. But when she abruptly glanced at the PSP in Anastasia's hands, and then back at them, her eyes seemed to radiate a challenging coolness rather than their usual insufferable warmth. Again, no anger, but those eyes were dangerously inquisitive.

Even with Cinderella wheelchair-bound, Drizella was in no mood to take chances with someone who could slug it out with a ninja. But she could only stare back blankly at her stepsister, and judging from the deafening silence from Anastasia, it was the same way with her. Yet she was cogent enough to shove Cinderella's PSP in Drizella's lap. Her gaze drifted down to it, then with hiss of fury, Drizella shoved it back in her sister's arms, who promptly tried to push it back her way. Drizella stood up as the shoving match continued, each of them desperate to get rid of the PSP. And in short order, the shoving match devolved into them wrestling each other as they rolled around on the floor, screaming and pulling at whatever was in reach.

All the while, Cinderella and the mice could only watch as they rolled around in the middle of the cafeteria. But soon, with a hearty chuckle and a smile, Cinderella could only say, "And people always ask why I can never hold a grudge against you two." She scooped up the PSP while nonchalantly wheeling her way past them.

Drizella barely heard Cinderella, being wrapped up in showing her sister who was boss. But then, while trying to strangle each other, something registered. Shoving Anastasia's face to the floor, Drizella called back to Cinderella. "Hey, if you're here, where's Mother?"

Cinderella glanced over her shoulder, and that glint in her eyes… No, the usual warmth hadn't returned, but a different sort of disturbing passion shone in them instead. "Oh, I think she might have mentioned something about needing a little fresh air," Cinderella said with a nasty grin.

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Lady Tremaine was still gasping when she pried the oxygen mask off, her eyes still bloodshot and bulging out. She was supposed to meet with her dimwitted daughters this morning for breakfast, but a whole night of having to endure what lurked in the putrid depths of Cinderella's bowels…

Tremaine shuddered at the horrific memories just as Lucifer reached up and snatched the rebreather mask for himself. Having to share the limited amount of oxygen available at any given time over the course of half a day while being besieged by… "UGH!" Tremaine snarled. It was actually a good thing that Lucifer had snagged the mask. At the moment, Tremaine was liable to throw up into it.

 _Face it Tremaine. This was a ploy worthy of any villain worth their salt, Disney or Marvel. Your stepdaughter couldn't have set her trap any better,_ Tremaine admitted silently as she did her best to ignore the lingering stink of Cinderella's Gummi Berry farts. Like many hospital rooms, this one had been set up with negative pressure, ensuring that her stepdaughter's… foul deed would more or less be contained. Add to that how those vermin of hers chewed through the wires for the nurse call button, and how enervated Tremaine was from that initial volley with gunpowder… There had been no escape, and only brief respites via the oxygen mask. At least Cinderella had not been ruthless enough to have the mice chew the tubes for _THAT_.

 _No, this wasn't about simple revenge in the form of dish served cold,_ Tremaine reasoned as she struggled against the urge to gag. How one person could explode for hours on end with such vileness… The stench must have permeated the fibers of every fabric in the room! She snatched the mask back as Lucifer was breathing in deeply, ignoring his hisses and stare. _This was more of a message. Crown or no, royal standing or no, Cinderella's stated loud and clear there's depths of depravity she's willing to sink to if she has to. That she can play as dirty as her newer princess friends, or any villain, when the need arises._

The more Tremaine dwelled on Cinderella's grotesque stunt, the more it sank in how badly she miscalculated. How badly she had misjudged what made her stepdaughter tick. Oh, at first, there was delight upon seeing there was a wild streak within Cinderella. And if only it could be coaxed to the surface more and more, it could do untold damage to her image. Of course, she figured such newfound wildness was limited to only physical combat. One fueled by a deep-seated insecurity regarding their new Marvel friends, one the princess was loathe to acknowledge herself. Furthermore, she figured her stepdaughter's backward sense of honor would keep her from, well, unloading this new penchant for beatdowns upon _HER_.

She was only half-right about that last one, and nothing else. Oh these Marvels… Tremaine had briefly been introduced to some of their new fellow villains. Apocalypse, the Green Goblin, Doctor Doom, Mandarin, the Red Skull, Ultron, Loki… As much as Tremaine hated to admit it, those maniacs easily rivaled herself and her villainous associates in terms of devilish ingenuity. The heroes they faced would _HAVE_ to be masterful strategists themselves, as well as physically tough, to keep them in check all these years. And be _RUTHLESS_ in the application of such strategy. That was the most damning thing about last night. That boxing match proved she could go a few rounds with an actual superhero, but Tremaine unknowingly pushed her into using devious tactics like a superhero as well. Granted, Tremaine had done that once already, when she tried to restructure time. But Cinderella was digging into an entirely different bag of tricks this go-round.

This was uncharted territory. It was already tough to feel out where she stood, now that both of them were infirm and stuck together in this hospital. But Cinderella herself, her personality and perhaps her very soul… She was changing more quickly than Tremaine ever anticipated. The otherwise obedient girl that could only draw strength from the hope and dreams she kept to herself was very different now. She didn't wait for her little animal friends to do the heavy lifting anymore. She did the heavy lifting _WITH_ them. Mere resilience had changed to open defiance and rebellion when pushed to the wall. And that was _BEFORE_ these Marvels showed up and changed everything again. Expectations had shifted even more. And as Cinderella struggled to come to terms with them…

 _I've stupidly put myself right in her path, gave her a convenient target to vent her frustrations out on,_ Tremaine realized, right before Lucifer snatched the mask away yet again. _So I'll just have to push back harder than ever before. Remind that fool girl that as devious as she can be, I'm still the master in that arena. And I will, once I can think right… If I can rid of this damnable stench!_

As the foul, lingering odor assaulted her nostrils once again, Tremaine was ready to muster up her last reserves of strength to grab the mask and shove Lucifer off the bed. But before she could, Tremaine slowly realized that the stink was steadily getting less overpowering. Not only that, it was getting a little hot in their room. And though the sun was shining through the window, Tremaine could swear it was steadily getting darker. As if some force was starting to suck away the ambient light, all light…

Tremaine knew what was going on, felt her familiar presence, an instant before a pillar of sickly green flame appeared in the middle of the room. The flames began to turn inward, take a flowing form, and through the soul-sucking darkness she created around herself, Tremaine could still see a familiar face glowering down at her. As the flames took the shape of a billowing black cloak, it swayed and flowed as its wearer swept closer to the bed. Yes, that was how Maleficent tended to make herself known, come in uninvited in a showy display of dark power. Yet this time, something was different…

"Hmph. Bad hair day, bad horn day, or both?" Tremaine quipped with a slight sneer. After all, Maleficent's entrance dissipated the lingering farts, so Tremaine had no excuse to be rude; Maleficent would _EXPECT_ such a show of snark. Besides, Tremaine was genuinely curious. For whatever reason, Maleficent had decided against her usual cowl. Thus her horns were left unwrapped, and her long brown hair flowed free.

Maleficent glanced up at her horns, then tossed her hair aside before glaring back at Tremaine. "You know you're the only one who never shows anxiety when I appear, or would be so flippant towards me. I suppose it's why I always found your company… refreshing." She added a devilish grin of her own to that last bit. "But to answer your question, I've found the cowl…restrictive since, well…" Her hand went to her jaw, and as she twitched it sideways, Tremaine swore she heard it pop.

"Well, certainly you've had no further trouble with your own insufferably pure-hearted princess," said Tremaine. Granted, that didn't accurately describe Cinderella anymore. But certainly Aurora couldn't be changing like that, fighting expertise or no.

If possible, Maleficent's gaze grew colder. "Don't be so certain."

"And…why is that?" asked Tremaine, unperturbed.

"How to put this?" said Maleficent thoughtfully. "You recall how, upon the girl's birth, people were quick to shower her with gifts, right up to those damnable fairies? Well, some of those Marvel fools wanted to retroactively get in on the act…"

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High up in one of the towers of her castle, Aurora was at her desk, busily going over papers in her chambers. Though she was focusing quite intently on her work, she was still sharp enough to catch something in the reflection on her pewter cup. With the way her desk was situated, Aurora's back was to the biggest window. Presently, it was open, and Maleficent's familiar, the raven Diablo, was poking his beak in to spy on her.

At the moment, Diablo didn't suspect he'd been spotted. Which suited Aurora just fine. With a smirk, trying not to make any sudden moves, she slipped a couple fingers under her dress's sleeve…

Anyone listening in the courtyards below could have heard a high-pitched squawk high above just then. And if those who heard it looked up, they might have glimpsed a small, black and white blob of something rocketing across the airspace above the courtyards, zooming from one tower to another.

At last, Diablo was slammed onto the wall of an adjacent tower. Once he did, the white glop flung at him spread out not unlike a spider's web, anchoring him right to the wall.

For a moment, Diablo didn't even struggle against the webbing and simply stared straight ahead, too shellshocked to process how Aurora just blindsided him. But that flummoxed gaze shifted to his usual mocking leer soon enough, For to add insult to injury, Merryweather had just appeared, snapping selfies of herself hovering before the hapless raven with a floating camera.

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"Diablo still insists his feathers keep sticking together long after that," Maleficent added. "Speaking of which, where is Diablo?" Maleficent got her answer when a loud squawk echoed within the room, followed by the raven flying across it with Lucifer in hot pursuit. Maleficent just glanced at the pair as they shot around, then looked back to Tremaine. "Would you like to try reining in the cat, or shall I?"

Tremaine was about to try the former, but then remember how much oxygen Lucifer hogged. "Oh go on, if you feel you can discipline Lucifer better than I."

"Very well," said Maleficent smoothly. Aiming her staff at Lucifer, there was a loud crack, and suddenly he was incased in what looked like an oversized soccer ball. Diablo perched himself atop it, giving a satisfying nod, but then the soccer ball began rolling around with wild abandon. "Now, on to business. My dear Lady Tremaine, do forgive me for neglecting to drop in until now. It pains me to hear that you suffered such…misfortune at that latest boxing match without even stepping into the ring yourself."

A thinly-veiled jab at how, unlike her, Tremaine would never have stepped into that ring. That was one difference between them: Maleficent wouldn't hesitate to dirty her hands when the need arose. Brushing it aside, Tremaine said, "So you've come to offer condolences for something that was partially your fault anyway? Why not have saved yourself the trouble and send some wilted, soot-stained flowers instead?" These back-and-forth jabs, it's how it always went. Cinderella and Aurora would never understand, but it was a show of respect between them.

Maleficent chuckled. "Perhaps, but I'll be honest. You're not the only reason I'm here. I actually wanted to see that Deadpool fellow's stand-up routine. There's _ONE_ Marvel I feel deserves my respect. But alas, that one minion of mine gave me the wrong date. Hopefully I'll remember to pull him up from hanging by his nose hair tomorrow."

Mutual respect between them aside, Tremaine couldn't keep the disgust out of her voice. "Trust me Maleficent, you didn't miss much. That…man is a special breed of vile that even I cannot abide by."

"Vile, unpredictable, neither truly a villain or some soppy hero," Maleficent said with a caress in her voice that was almost…LOVING? "There are few beings that can claim to be chaos incarnate, but this Wade Wilson is one of them. It's what makes him…intriguing." Tremaine could only stare in shock, so much so she barely noticed when Lucifer's soccer ball bounced around Maleficent. She nonchalantly kicked it aside. "But it's good I came anyway. I may have missed his act, but the man seems to have a nasty habit of leaving his weapons and ammunition behind." With that, Maleficent produced a duffel bag from within her cloak, and let it drop with a thud.

Tremaine stared at it for a moment. The memory of what the gunpowder appropriated from that bag did… Refusing to show weakness before Maleficent, Tremaine fought down the nausea as best she could. "So you came here to see the mercenary's comedy routine, and decided to drop in as an afterthought. You flatter me, Mistress of All Evil."

"Well, not just you," Maleficent went on, not missing a beat. "It seems my blunders back at the House of Mouse were bigger than I thought. I wound up putting Frederick Dukes in here as well. He's purportedly as invulnerable as that clod Marko who toppled onto you. Or so I mistakenly thought. Magical flame spit out while I'm a dragon, well… third-degree burns necessitating some grafts are now in order, it appears."

Tremaine couldn't really care less about another one of these X-Oafs, and let her disdain be known. " _YOU_ were the one who sparked that brawl with those Marvels the other day! And you're suddenly concerned for the well-being of one of these mutant clods because…why?"

"My rather towering temper has cooled down some, to be certain. And besides, it's simply a healthy dose of respect for a fellow agent of evil," Maleficent said smoothly. "Granted, the poor sod won't be winning chess matches against Doctor Doom anytime soon, but one must respect how he's been a consistent thorn in the side of the heroes he opposed for so long. But enough. I'm sure you're tired of these mutated freaks at this rate. As to what I'm come to _YOU_ for, it's quite simple. A little dark magic, and all those broken bones can be mended in an instant. If I'll be unable to humble the annoyingly pure princess in my life anytime soon, at least I can watch with glee as you antagonize yours."

For a moment, Tremaine's disgust and frustration faded. Yes, that would be quite agreeable, walking out of the hospital on her own power, leaving the fool girl to stew with her litany of broken bones. And the salt in the wound would be it being courtesy of her own 'friend' and their mutual distaste for anything good and decent that brought happiness, and…

Tremaine's momentary glee evaporated in an instant as she considered that. _No, no this wouldn't be a victory over Cinderella at all,_ she suddenly realized.

Maleficent sensed her sudden reluctance. "Now what is it, Tremaine?" she demanded impatiently,

"If you, the self-proclaimed Mistress of All Evil, are willing to heal my injuries out of the goodness of your black heart, then it stands to reason that Cinderella's Fairy Godmother has already made the same offer to her," said Tremaine. "And yet, her bones remain unmended. She _CHOSE_ not to escape this hospital, instead deigning to, to…" This time, Tremaine couldn't help but throw up a little in her mouth.

"To what?" Maleficent inquired silkily. "Do tell. Come now, Lady Tremaine, we used to share so much. Evil plots, devious strategies, voice actresses."

 _What do you mean USED TO share voice actresses? We STILL do!_ Tremaine fumed inwardly. Swallowing, and with a sigh, Tremaine laid bare how completely Cinderella had trapped her last night.

As she recalled the sad tale, Maleficent had remained silent, her face smooth and cold. Until, as expected, her lips curved into a cruel smile. "I guess I should count myself lucky after all. Losing that boxing match to Aurora doesn't seem nearly as humiliating now."

"Does this mean you're now unwilling to help me antagonize Cinderella?" Tremaine asked quickly. "Cinderella already cheated in one sense. I suspect it was her Fairy Godmother who fetched that botched dish of Snow White's for her. And already, you've fetched…" Tremaine tilted her head to the side to look past Maleficent. Maleficent looked down to where she had focused her gaze: Deadpool's duffel bag.

After Tremaine laid out the plan taking shape in her mind, Maleficent's mocking smile grew even more pronounced. "I must say, it will certainly take more than a…gassing to make you lose your edge," Maleficent said slyly. "Well then, if there's no further need for me here, I believe I shall take my leave."

And with that, Maleficent whirled around and walked to the center of the room, Diablo following close behind. Green flames were already sprouting up from her cloak. A troubling possibility suddenly occurred to Tremaine. "Maleficent, wait! Take care with that fiery power. This time, it might set off…"

A blaring wail resounded within her hospital room, just as the soccer ball entrapping Lucifer bounded up onto Tremaine's bed and Maleficent vanished completely. A moment later, Lucifer managed to cut open the soccer ball with his claws, only to get doused along with his mistress as the sprinklers kicked in. Tremaine could only just sit there as they got drenched, vowing to bottle up her frustration and take it out on a certain uppity stepdaughter…

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It was now high noon, and the sun shone high above, unimpeded by clouds. Yesterday evening, Cinderella had been unable to simply drink in the courtyard garden's beauty, the simple pleasures life had to offer even when cursed with a battered and broken body, thanks to their haste in setting the trap for her stepmother. Thankfully, given how Tremaine would doubtless be out of their hair for a few more hours, Cinderella and the mice had time to take a breather. And so, Cinderella slowly wheeled her chair through the courtyard, Jaq and Gus still half-hidden in her hair, soaking in the sun and the scent of flowers wafting over due to a light breeze. For a few moments, it served to put her mind at ease, despite how much of her body still ached.

But something else soon served to ensure that such a respite was a fleeting one. Abruptly, Cinderella brought her wheelchair to a halt, letting out a sigh. If Jaq and Gus had no inkling that something was nagging at the back of Cinderella's mind before, there was no ignoring it now. Brushing a few locks of Cinderella's hair aside, Jaq stepped across her shoulder. "What's wrong, Cinderelly? Aren't you happy now that you pranked your mean ol' stepmother and Lucifee harder than ever?"

Cinderella turned and flashed a wry smile at the mouse. "It was less about enjoying pranking a certain someone mercilessly and more about proving a point," said Cinderella warmly. But her bright expression immediately faded. "I'm just afraid, I've just realized… We'll both be here a few more days. Long enough for my stepmother to find a way to turn the tables. This sort of game isn't decided by one brilliant chess move. No, we've got plenty more moves to make before I can declare checkmate."

"Aw, you're worrying too much, Cinderelly," said Jaq quickly. But there was no mistaking the doubt in the mouse's voice.

"Says the mouse constantly urging caution yesterday while we hatched our little scheme," said Cinderella playfully with another smirk. Yet Cinderella knew she was doing as bad a job of hiding her unease as Jaq had. "But when we're dealing with someone who manipulated time just because she couldn't let go of a grudge, we can't be too careful."

Now it was Gus who stepped forward on her shoulder. "Uh, then why pick fight with Lucifee and your stepmother at all?"

Cinderella sighed again. "One, because she was just asking for it yesterday. And two, something just…snapped inside me when I saw her mocking glare in that ring. And three, well…these days, a princess just can't shy away from a challenge. Of any sort." Another sigh after reminding herself about how different things were nowadays. And despite her masterstroke of a prank yesterday, all her bravado in front of her stepmother, now she was stuck with the need to keep this front ongoing until they were both discharged. A few more days. A few more days of dreaming up traps for Tremaine to stumble into, or at least thwart any designs her stepmother had for her. And at the moment, Cinderella's mind was blank. "So any thoughts, you two?"

Neither mouse spoke up right away, but she did hear a tiny stomach gurgle a little. "Yeah, Gus-Gus still hungry," was Gus's reply. Which was followed by the sound of Jaq smacking him upside the head so hard, Gus tumbled down into her lap.

Despite her mood, Cinderella couldn't help but chuckle a little as she gently scooped the rotund little mouse up. Always such a healthy appetite, this one had. It was such a shame that at the moment, she couldn't exactly march into a kitchen and whip up something extra-special for all of them for supper. No, even without Prudence around, she would be hard-pressed to…

And all of a sudden, Cinderella had the answer to her dilemma. With a snap of her fingers, she declared, "That's it!" Her movements were so sudden, she had almost made Gus tumble into her lap again. "Whoops, sorry," she added sheepishly.

"Uh, what's 'it', Cinderelly?" asked a dubious-sounding Jaq.

"If I can't think of any more traps as ingenious as last night's, then the best I can do is stymie Stepmother until we're discharged," said Cinderella. "And yet, _STILL_ make it clear she can't get the upper hand anymore. Draw her and Lucifer out, provide a tempting target, only for them to get slapped down. And I know just the sort of thing that's guaranteed to make them try…"

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It had taken a good deal of convincing, along with copious amounts of assurances that proper hand hygiene would be implemented. Hospitals were scandalous for hosting a host of pathogens after all, especially ones transmitted by fecal-oral route. But in the end, Cinderella had succeeded in persuading the hospital staff to let her make use of the kitchens to throw an impromptu party and get-together. The rationale, or so she claimed, was to try to cool down lingering tensions after that disastrous night at the House of Mouse, and being served anything besides run-of-the-mill hospital food would certainly help. But in actuality, she just wanted to give Tremaine and Lucifer an irresistible target. After the stunt Cinderella pulled with their dinners last night, no doubt Tremaine would find the prospect of tampering with the food she was preparing here poetic justice. Thus, the aim was to make sure whatever attempts she and Lucifer would doubtlessly make backfire horribly.

And so, Cinderella moved from one pot to the next, making sure the temperature for each was just so, adding ingredients in just the right proportion. Granted, it was difficult while stuck in a wheelchair, with limited mobility in one arm to boot. Nevertheless, Cinderella still found the simple art of cooking a soothing, rewarding experience. Even though this was primarily a means of drawing Tremaine's fire, it was already serving to calm her frayed nerves. Before, it had always helped ease the tension during those years her stepmother made her a slave in her own house, and much to Prudence's chagrin, she insisted on keeping her culinary skills sharp as a princess. And who knew, maybe this little ploy _COULD_ ease lingering unease with those Marvels?

 _Mustn't get too relaxed, however,_ Cinderella told herself as she slid a plateful of carved-up potatoes into the last pot. _Word must have reached every corner of the hospital already. Those rusty old gears in my stepmother's head must be putting out a hundred foot-pounds of torque right about now._

So when Tremaine – or far more likely, Lucifer acting on her orders – made a move, she had to be ready. In anticipation of that, Cinderella and the mice staked out the hospital kitchens in advance. Every possible entry point had been identified and was being monitored, right down to the air vents a certain pudgy feline with a nasty little disposition could meander through. So for the moment, all Cinderella could do was remain patient and calm, giving the rest of the world the appearance of a carefree, naïve princess thinking she was somehow making the world a better place. Granted, that was how Cinderella usually came off, so keeping up the illusion took little effort. It felt a little wrong to her, even such subtle deception. That her usual cheerful nature was now an illusion, hiding a mind trying to be more calculating than ever. But when trying to outfox her stepmother…

Cinderella was forced to put her self-doubts aside when a buzzing sound came to her ear. Thanks to all that gear Gadget Hackwrench supplied her friends, the mice could do more than just keep Lucifer in check. They could keep in touch as they monitored the cat's movements in a myriad of ways. Such as surreptitiously placing motion sensors in all the vents that led into the kitchens. Cinderella instinctively knew they had been tripped off a second before Gus's anxious voice resounded right in her ear. "Cinderelly, the vent's sensor's been tripped! Lucifee's on his way! Us mice-mice are en route!"

This was it. Her stepmother had sent Lucifer to sabotage her party plans, just as she figured she would. Now all Cinderella could do was play along and let Lucifer think he had a clear shot. She cast a sideways glance at a nearby vent; Cinderella couldn't see through it, but she could sense the malice on the other side, practically see Lucifer's sadistic grin. She couldn't help but flash a small, devilish smile of her own, right before announcing, "Oh dear, I guess all that gunpowder and Gummi Berry whatever had more of an effect then I thought. Time to hit the ladies' room." And with that, Cinderella wheeled herself out of the kitchen, hoping her air of nonchalance and naïveté would be convincing enough for a certain cat…

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As expected, just as Cinderella left the kitchens, the vent panel was forced off from the inside, and Lucifer squeezed his way out. Or at least, he was trying to. The poor cat's bulk was making his exit a trifle bit difficult. Lucifer grit his teeth as he tried to get his midsection unstuck from the vent frame, struggling with all his might. Then, at last, Lucifer popped himself free, and went flying across the kitchen, landing right into a stack of pots and pans.

What ensued was, of course, a cacophony of bangs and clangs as pots and pans scattered everywhere. As the din died down, one particularly large pot rolled over to where Cinderella had been busy moments before. A moment after it rolled to a stop, Lucifer poked his head out, once again finding himself hopelessly stuck. Grumbling to himself, he tried once again to free himself, but he was stuck worse than before. The pot bounced around a little as he mewled and wailed. It was a minor miracle Lucifer didn't make anyone else rush in to see what the fuss was about.

After what seemed an eternity, Lucifer pried himself free of that troublesome pot. Still growling to himself, Lucifer then hopped onto the counter, methodically crawling closer to the cookpots with Cinderella's special dishes, an evil leer stretching ear to ear on his face. His gaze turned aside to things like spices arranged on the counter, as if trying to decide what to add to ruin the food, and how much. But before Lucifer could really get any ideas…

A plangent but methodical string of weird 'popping' noises made Lucifer look behind him, to the far side of the kitchens. His eyes widened a bit as he saw this little metal _SOMETHING_ – what looked to be partly made up of a metal spaghetti strainer surrounded by a ring fixed with suction cups – roll up the wall! Once it nearly reached the ceiling, it used a blast from an affixed hair dryer to launch itself off the wall, and then used a small skateboard affixed to its bottom half to roll along the counter. Things like bottles and drinking glasses were knocked aside as it rocketed toward Lucifer. Lucifer could only watch, dumbstruck as it skidded to a halt a few yards away.

The confusion and thinly-veiled dread on Lucifer's face… One could get intoxicated drinking it in, and Gus couldn't resist popping the hatch of Gadget's Gyro-Tank open to get a better look. "Now now now, Lucifee, we don't want any more mishaps with anyone's food, do we?" Gus said quizzically as he wagged an accusing finger.

Lucifer's gaze was that of complete bewilderment. No doubt Lucifer never suspected Gus and Jaq had perhaps the biggest gun in a certain inventor's arsenal. But Lucifer was sharper than most gave him credit for. Snapping out of it, he looked around for anything he could be an improvised weapon. And unfortunately for Gus, there was something handy: a big tube for squirting icing onto cakes. Lucifer's eyes narrowed evilly right before he looked back to Gus.

For a moment, Gus was truly perturbed. He had a weapon of his own within reach, right inside the Gyro-Tank: one of Gadget's bottlecap-launching crossbows. Gaining a little more confidence back, Gus raised his paw at his side, wiggling his fingers dangerously as he leered back at Lucifer. Meanwhile, Lucifer raised his own paw, making it clear he intended to reach for that big tube.

Gus and Lucifer just stared each other down a few moments longer, neither moving a muscle. For some reason, a slight breeze seemed to blow through the kitchen, ruffling their fur, and Gus swore it made whistling noises as well…

Then, in a flash of feline swiftness, Lucifer lunged for the tube. Gus reached down for Gadget's crossbow, but by the time he had that cat's smug face in his crosshairs, Lucifer had the tube of frosting aimed at the Gyro-Tank. Thankfully, Gus was a fraction of a second faster on the draw. That bottlecap was crossing the gap between them just as Lucifer cut loose with a torrent of frosting. When the bottlecap struck Lucifer in the eye, the shot went wild; instead of drowning Gus and Jaq in gooey, sugary sludge, it splattered over the side of the Gyro-Tank instead. Mewling in pain with a paw over his eye, Lucifer scrabbled in the opposite direction. In no time, he climbed the shelves on the opposite wall so he had a clear shot at that vent opening. Of course, he got stuck again as he bounded into it, but after a moment of struggling, Lucifer forced his way back through.

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Unfortunately, Gus and Jaq couldn't go after him. Not only had Cinderella made it clear that they could not leave the food unguarded in case Lucifer was nothing but a distraction, but the frosting had gummed up the Gyro-Tank. It impotently sputtered and wobbled in place as Jaq futilely tried to get it into gear. Something that amused Cinderella to no end when she wheeled her way back in. For a moment after rolling up to the Gyro-Tank, Cinderella just sat there, watching as the two mice argued as they fervently struggled to get the Gyro-Tank moving again. Eventually, it sounded like they were about to come to blows over it, so Cinderella spoke up and said, "Now now, boys. I'm sure that frosting will come out in due time, but for the moment, since I don't see Lucifer anywhere and it doesn't look like he tampered with anything, I think we succeeded."

Gus and Jaq glared at each other a moment longer before finally calming down. As they worked to dig out as much of the frosting as possible, Cinderella got back to inspecting what was cooking. "Everything…looks just about ready," she muttered to herself. "But we have to be absolutely sure that nothing's been sabotaged. Lucifer still could've planned this to look like he failed all along, to make us think the food wasn't tampered with."

And so, Cinderella got to work, taking little samples from each pot she was preparing. As the mice kept trying to remove as much frosting as they could – Gus, in particular was taking great delight in eating some of it – they kept glancing over at what Cinderella was doing. Neither could help but look a little flummoxed as Cinderella mixed bits of the food with some weird chemicals on little white cards. "Uh uh uh, what's all that for Cinderelly?" Gus asked, right before helping himself to another handful of frosting.

"Just parts from the test kits I had you two steal from the hospital laboratory," Cinderella replied as she mixed the chemicals and food samples together on the card with toothpicks. "The hospital lab must also be full of germs that could cause food poisoning. If Stepmother wants to frame me for trying to kill a slew of patients here, getting Lucifer to steal those sort of specimens is the easiest way to do it." Granted, Cinderella hadn't _WANTED_ to steal from the laboratory, and of course, she'd have Jaq and Gus return the kits. But her stepmother wouldn't have any qualms about stealing from that same lab to harm the other patients to get at her. The only way to demoralize Tremaine to the point she wouldn't try anything else until they were discharged was to show she could anticipate any and all of her chess moves.

But as Cinderella rocked card after card, she couldn't find any evidence anything was amiss. None of the food bits mixed with reagents clumped up in the least. "No staph toxins, no sign of _Shigella_ … Wow, maybe I gave Stepmother too much credit. I've tested for every common bug that can cause food poisoning, and it's been a whole lot of nothing."

"Since when are you an expert on germs anyway, Cinderelly?" demanded Jaq, still clawing away at the frosting gumming up Gadget's machine.

"That PSP makes for a nice web browser too," Cinderella said offhandedly as she kept staring at all the cards coming up negative. "Sooooo… I guess since everything's almost ready, we should get on with it. It won't truly be a slap in Stepmother's face until everyone's eating and having a good time." As frustrated as the mice were, Cinderella saw them smile and nod in agreement, even as they kept clawing away at the frosting. Obviously, they were feeling good about their chances, but something kept nagging at the back of Cinderella's mind. Could Tremaine find another way to mess everything up? Perhaps, but at the moment, Cinderella couldn't see how.

Finally, Jaq and Gus got enough of the frosting out to get the Gyro-Tank moving again. So as they sped off to hide it somewhere, Cinderella got to work prepping all her dishes for the impromptu party. Not an easy task, given how she was still confined to a wheelchair, with only one truly good arm. Still, it helped her focus, and filled her with hope that maybe tonight would at least be a little fun on top of showing up her stepmother again. Yet as Cinderella made the preparations, that nagging feeling remained.

And so, the hospital's auditorium was chosen for the festivities. The same place that that odd fellow Deadpool did his comedy routine last night. Cinderella couldn't help but wonder where that… oddball had scampered off too. But for the moment, Cinderella had plenty more of his… associates to keep track of. That whole brawl that erupted after she keeled over in that boxing ring had put a whole lot more people, from both camps, in this hospital than she previously imagined.

At least, for the moment, they were getting along. At that moment, Shego was hobbling up to the counter where Cinderella was personally serving out portions of her cooking. The feisty villainess had a broken leg and was relying on a crutch, but she was only half-looking at what Cinderella had to offer. She was more focused on talking with Emma Frost, who was in that weird diamond form. Thanks to the auditorium's lighting, Cinderella could spot a whole slew of cracks in that diamond form of hers. Obviously, it would take some time before those nasty fractures would mend. In the meantime, it looked like she was comparing notes with Shego. Cinderella had heard that this 'White Queen' was supposed to technically be an X-Man, yet she was finding common ground with this infamous villain-for-hire. Cinderella couldn't really hear much of their conversation, but Shego actually cracked a smile as she filled up her plate. Then the pair walked away.

 _Hmmm, I wonder… She can't eat while stuck in that diamond body?_ Cinderella mused as Emma Frost swept away, that white cape flowing behind her. Still, it was a spot of hope, seeing both camps getting along, even while being stuck here after pummeling each other for no reason. _Hopefully that means incidents like that House of Mouse fiasco will be few and far between as time goes…_

Cinderella was snapped out of her private musings as a huge shadow fell over her. That shadow, plus the uneasy vibe she was getting, told Cinderella just who had sauntered up. Smirking a little herself, she dryly said, "Let me guess, don't bother with a plate. Just give you the whole basin."

"Heh heh heh, the lady knows her clientele," came an eerily jovial reply. Cinderella slowly looked across the counter to see none other than Fred Dukes, the larger-than-life Blob. Supposedly, his skin was impervious to harm, not to mention his inner workings like bones. Yet his entire left leg was bound up in some sort of cast. Did he actually break his leg, or did something else happen? At any rate, given his stature, he had to set that injured leg of his on a dolly, the kind used at home improvement stores to haul lumber.

Forcing herself to stop staring at that messed-up leg, Cinderella looked back up to meet Blob's gaze. "So what'll it be?" she asked, trying to look as disinterested as possible. No point letting this guy know how uneasy his mere presence made her.

Flashing an obnoxious smile himself, one that highlighted all that jowly blubber on his face, Blob pointed a huge finger at the basin full of clam chowder. Shrugging her shoulders, Cinderella pulled out the entire thing, tossed in a big serving spoon, and just handed it over. She didn't mind Blob hogging it all for himself. In fact, she had planned on something like this happening after hearing whispers of him being admitted here. She just wanted him gone from her presence.

"Many thanks," said Blob sardonically as he set the basin on that dolly. "Hopefully you cook at least as good as you box."

Irritation crept up along with her unease. "Ah, I see. Disappointed I didn't put a certain X-Man down for the count?"

"Naw, it was fun seeing you give the kitty a run for her money," jeered the Blob. "And hey, always had a thing for redheads. Just ask one of them X-Dupes next time the mouse tosses you in the ring with one of 'em." He punctuated that by reaching over and fiddling with a lot of her hair before lumbering off with that dolly. Cinderella had had to fight the urge to recoil out of disgust. Her skin was crawling well after the Blob situated himself in a corner to chug down her chowder.

Her eyes still glued to the Blob's back, Cinderella at first didn't hear that people had walked up behind her. Twirling her wheelchair around, Cinderella was a bit surprised to see her stepsisters there. "Um, if you're here to get something to eat, you should come around to the other side," Cinderella pointed out.

Amazingly, Cinderella's stepsisters looked at confused as she did. As if they had no idea why they were even there. "Actually, we're not exactly here for food or anything," said Drizella anxiously.

"Uh, yeah. Mother said to give you this," Anastasia added, handing Cinderella an envelope. Cinderella gazed at it for a moment, unsure what to make of it. Anastasia wouldn't want to do anything to antagonize her anymore. At least, not knowingly. Despite her better instincts, Cinderella reached out for the envelope. As she took it from Anastasia, Cinderella swore she heard some sort of metallic jingle. Upon opening it, she saw why. Cinderella dumped the envelope's contents into her waiting palm: a gaggle of weird metal rings.

And right at that moment, a huge explosion rocked the auditorium. Cinderella's head whirled around to gaze where the explosion went off. It came from the corner where Blob was. Now, the whole corner had been splattered with her clam chowder, and Blob just sat there, frozen in shock. But suddenly, he turned around, his gaze honing in on Cinderella. Or more accurately, what was in her hand.

Cinderella's eyes widened in horror as she realized what those rings were: grenade pins.

"YOU!" roared the Blob, pointing at her threateningly. Right before he started barreling toward her with the aid of that dolly. Prompting Cinderella to bring her wheelchair around and wheel out of their herself at top speed, screaming herself. As she began her desperate flight out of there, she caught quick glimpses of Drizella and Anastasia's faces. They were as shocked as everyone else. But that barely registered in Cinderella's mind. No, getting the hell away from the quarter-ton of incoming mutant blubber kind of took priority.

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Meanwhile, Lady Tremaine was resting comfortably in her and Cinderella's hospital room, lazing about as she watched some television. Not that there was really anything good on. At the moment, there was something… Star Wars related. In that it had Jar Jar Binks and Boba Fett doing something… odd. And by odd, we mean them precariously balancing on unicycles atop a high wire under some big tent, while they tried to knock each other off with what looked like big Q-Tips from that old American Gladiators show.

Given that Boba Fett had more combat experience, it was no surprise when he eventually got the upper hand. He brought one end of his… weapon until Jar Jar's clumsy blow and knocked the Gungan off his unicycle. He managed to grab onto the wire, but just as Boba Fett would've run over the Gungan's fingers with his unicycle, Jar Jar's tongue shot out, wrapping around the wheel's spokes. With one twist of his neck, Jar Jar yanked the unicycle right out from under the bounty hunter, and he plummeted down below.

And guess what was down below? Yep, Jar Jar Binks got to witness Sarlacc Pit Swan Dive #5 or whatever for the infamous bounty hunter.

Tremaine turned the television off in disgust. "Heaven help us all if those Star Wars fools get welcomed into our 'family', too…"

Thankfully, Lucifer squeezed his way through the vent up behind her bed at just that moment, and hopefully he had some good news for her. Tremaine took note that Lucifer was rubbing his eye a lot, and he had an overall disgruntled vibe. But at the moment, Tremaine was impatiently awaiting results. "So, Lucifer, did the Blob get our little 'present' at just the right time?" Lucifer took another moment to nurse his eye, but then looked up at his mistress and nodded with a naughty grin. "Lovely," Tremaine drawled as she smiled herself.

Doubtless her stepdaughter anticipated that she would have Lucifer contaminate her cooking. A delusion that Tremaine sought to foster by having Lucifer venture into that kitchen to supposedly do so as a blind. But oh no, such an obviously ploy was not for her. While Cinderella must have done everything possible to protect her food from being sabotaged, Tremaine had other plans. No, some of Deadpool's plastic explosives were the key, not gunpowder from his ammunition. While those mice would've been watching the perimeter, Lucifer was waiting under that serving counter. Waiting to plant the explosives under whatever basin Blob chose, but refrain from setting them off until Cinderella opened that envelope with the grenade pins, thus making Blob think that _SHE_ had tried to blow his face off.

"But I do wonder, did I go too far, sending that fat oaf after my poor stepdaughter?" Tremaine wondered aloud.

As she posed this question to Lucifer, a scream could be heard out in the hallway. A continuous scream that was getting closer. Eventually, Cinderella zoomed past the open door in her wheelchair, and if Tremaine had been looking there, she would've caught a glimpse of her stepdaughter doing some hand gesture censored by a Mickey Mouse symbol. And as she sped away, still screaming, moments later the Blob lumbered by with surprising swiftness, still hellbent on wringing that princess's neck. His stomps done to propel him down the hall made little tremors that took some time to fade away.

"On the contrary, my stepdaughter did seem intent on building bridges with those mutants," said Tremaine smoothly. "I do think this is an opportunity for Cinderella," she added with a sly grin, a grin that Lucifer was happy to mirror.


	5. Every Civilization Has Its Septic Tank

Antisocial Behavior

A very disturbing Cinderella story

Chapter 5: Every Civilized Society Has Its Septic Tank

12-11-2016

by Grey-X

Disclaimer: Cinderella and all other characters that appear in this story are the property of Disney. Including the Marvel Comics and Star Wars characters. If you still got a hair up your ass about that all these years later, go eat a bowl of dicks.

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 _Here we go again,_ Drizella thought sourly as she glowered at her mother from across a table in the hospital's cafeteria. Meanwhile, her sister Anastasia was sitting beside her, still wearing what Drizella was certain was a face full of dread. Quite in contrast, their mother was calmly stirring her tea with the hand that ached less. Oh, she was still covered in casts and bandages, confined to a wheelchair. Yet getting a leg-up on her stepdaughter had done much to improve her mood. Despite still having a broken, battered body, Lady Tremaine now radiated the cold, dispassionate air of subtle savagery she was always known for.

Once upon a time, that suited Drizella just fine. But with one botched scheme to break Cinderella after another, which dragged Drizella into messes that always ended in disaster, she was starting to prefer when her mother was off her game. To say nothing of how Anastasia felt. While Drizella just wanted to steer clear of Cinderella these days, Anastasia actually had something of a bond with their stepsister.

Yet it didn't matter how differently the two of them looked upon Cinderella: the end result of their mother's scheme was the same. Now, Cinderella would think they were in on the plan to sic the Blob on her. Meaning no matter how much the two of them wanted to stay out of things, thanks to their mother, they were caught in the middle of her feud with Cinderella yet again.

And as Drizella kept scowling at Tremaine from across the table, she had no doubt that was exactly the way her mother wanted it. Force them to stick with her again, out of fear of Cinderella. Drizella had to suppress a snort. More scared of _CINDERELLA_ than her mother? What was their corner of the mulitverse coming to!?

"Now now, dear, try not to wear such an unladylike expression in perpetuity, lest it stick," Tremaine drawled suddenly, right before sipping her tea.

That smugness Tremaine had been exuding all morning… Drizella did her best to bear it, but now she was at her breaking point. Slamming her hands against the table as she rose up, Drizella shrieked, "Does it look any less ladylike than, say, oh I dunno… Having it so it looks like Anastasia and I planted a GRENADE in a pot of chowder!?" This turned a few heads, but Drizella didn't care. Maneuvering like this to ensure she and Anastasia were firmly in her camp again… Tremaine had gone too far this time.

Not rattled in the least, Tremaine slowly set her cup back on the table. "As I keep trying to tell both you and Anastasia, appearances matter a great deal," Tremaine said smoothly. "But if you're so certain that your stepsister can see past appearances, as so many are quick to assume, you're free to try to make your case."

Drizella looked over across the cafeteria, along with her sister. There, at a table at the far end, was Cinderella, still looking winded from last night's ordeal. Drizella still wasn't quite sure _HOW_ Cinderella got that quarter-ton of blubber off her tail. She had heard something about this 'White Queen' or whatever working with Shego to distract and knock out that tub of lard. But Drizella also heard that the Blob had chased Cinderella for hours before then. Whatever sleep Cinderella managed to get, doubtful it would do much for her exhaustion and aching arms.

Drizella heard Anastasia whimper a little. Unsurprising, since she actually cared about her stepsister. Drizella just wanted to steer clear of her. But that was no longer an option, was it? No, given how worn-out Cinderella looked… Once she recovered, there was a good chance the princess would want payback, leaving Drizella little choice but to flock back to her mother's side. Tremaine had played this perfectly, just when it seemed Cinderella had gotten the hang of playing her mother's game.

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It was nothing short of a miracle, how Cinderella forced herself to tail her stepmother to the cafeteria late this morning. What with the way her arms felt like they were about to fall off, even after a few merciful hours of sleep following Fred Dukes's rampage. Thankfully some decided to intervene, even if it was after hours of that agonizing chase. Emma Frost couldn't change back to flesh and blood just yet, thus her telepathy was useless. But between her strength and Shego's weird pyrokinesis, somehow they got the Blob to back off. They took their sweet time doing so, but better late than never.

However, Cinderella didn't dare let herself believe her troubles were over. Oh no, quite the opposite was true. There was no getting around it: Lady Tremaine had played her for a sucker. Cinderella figured she had every angle covered, planned for every contingency. Instead, her stepmother found the perfect way to flank her, guaranteeing hours of agony and a tarnished reputation as far as Disney-Marvel relations went.

And so, Cinderella had followed Lady Tremaine to the cafeteria, even though she was still too sore and exhausted to really think about food. All she had gotten for herself was a can of orange soda; maybe the sugar high could put a bit more spring in her…spinning wheels. No, she was here to keep tabs on her stepmother, plain and simple. Sure, she could have surreptitiously had Jaq and Gus take care of it. But after her attempt to bait Tremaine blew up in her face (or rather, made something blow up in the Blob's face), Cinderella felt the need to take matters in her own hands. That, and make a show of strength to her stepmother, let her know that such antics wouldn't work. Even if, again, she felt ready to fall apart at the moment.

Looking over to Lady Tremaine's table, Cinderella saw that her stepsisters were still seated with her. They briefly glanced over in her direction, then quickly snapped their heads back when they realized she was looking at them. The anxiety bordering on terror was unmistakable. _No doubt this was part of Tremaine's ploy, too. Make them believe they have no choice to side with her again, fearing this was one slight too many from them,_ Cinderella thought sourly. How overconfident could Tremaine be, believing she wouldn't see through that? _Any more overconfident than you believing you covered every angle when it came to your stepmother's retaliation?_ Cinderella reminded herself.

It pained Cinderella to see her stepsisters so terrified of her. Not only was it pathetic to be petrified of someone stuck in a wheelchair, but she had been truthful before. Anastasia was almost a friend now, and Drizella… just wasn't worth getting worked up over. No, it was Tremaine she had to focus on. Which meant that she couldn't waste time looking for an opportunity to assuage her stepsisters' fears. Watching Tremaine's every move was key. Still trying to steady her breathing, Cinderella's gaze narrowed as she watched Tremaine sip her tea again. Yes, keep an eye on her stepmother whenever possible. And as long as Jaq and Gus kept an eye on Lucifer…

And just as Cinderella's confidence was starting to recover based on that notion, she suddenly heard an enthusiastic "Cinderelly!"

Eyes widening, Cinderella glanced down to see her mouse friends standing atop one of her wheels. "What are you two doing here?" Cinderella demanded through gritted teeth. You're supposed to be tailing Lucifer."

"Lucifee…gave us the slip," Gus admitted sheepishly.

"But we snagged something for Cinderelly that'll tip the scales," Jaq added.

Cinderella's hopes were rekindled, a little. "What is it, then?"

Jaq reached into his vest and pulled out what looked like a bit of chocolate candy. "Ex-Lax! Extra-strength!" Jaq said with a smile. "Say the word, Cinderelly, and us mice-mice will go drop it in Tremaine's tea. Won't be able to cause much trouble when she's on the can for hours!"

Cinderella would have facepalmed if she wasn't worried her arm might fall off from the force. "Guys, we pulled that trick off already with the gunpowder. Stepmother will see that sort of ploy coming," Cinderella whispered irascibly. "Besides, we need to get creative, not recycle the same old stunt." Sighing, Cinderella reached for her soda can, pulled the tab, and her face was suddenly doused in sugary, orange-flavored wetness.

For a moment, Cinderella was frozen in place from shock and humiliation. As orange soda dribbled down her face, Cinderella slowly turned to gaze at her stepfamily's table. As she suspected, Tremaine was grinning smugly. "Oh dear, it looks like someone shook up a can of soda. Well, I do believe I saw my daughters coming out of the kitchens right before arriving for breakfast…"

Cinderella's gaze shifted to her stepsisters, who looked as if rosebushes were stolen from the Queen of Hearts's gardens, then planted in front of Maleficent's fortress, and someone told _BOTH_ villains they were responsible. They shook their heads furiously, as if they actually thought she would fall for it. _No doubt this was what Lucifer got up to after giving Jaq and Gus the slip,_ Cinderella reasoned as she wiped the soda off with a napkin. _And Stepmother, you obviously have yet to learn there's such thing as overplaying your hand._ Especially when it would trigger a reprisal unconsidered otherwise. Her stepsisters were not the target, only Lady Tremaine. And if her stepmother thought this would distract her… Still glaring over at her stepfamily, Cinderella hissed down at the two mice through gritted teeth. "Laxative. In tea. Now."

Cinderella heard their skittering as they clambered down the wheelchair and across the cafeteria, and so she kept glaring over at them. Make her stepmother focus on her, and thus be less likely to spot the mice. Her ploy worked. Cinderella forced herself to suppress a grin as she saw Jaq drop broken-up bits of laxative into Tremaine's tea, then skitter off with her none the wiser. It still bothered her, the fearful looks on her stepsisters' faces. No time to spare regarding that, however. Tremaine was still all that mattered. And she had to have something ready once she was done crapping her guts out. Again.

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Drizella never thought that she'd be more terrified of Cinderella, the girl once forced into their servitude, than her mother. But here she was, on the far side of a cafeteria and stuck in a wheelchair, and her gaze online filled her with dread. And the worst part was, Drizella wasn't sure _WHY_. Was she afraid that, after recent events, Cinderella might come after _HER_? She was a princess now, and had power. Cinderella never stooped to such petty shows of force before, but perhaps now… Or was it just how this prank war she was fighting with Tremaine threatened to suck in her and Anastasia with the force of a black hole? The latter was certainly looking like a sure bet now.

 _We've got to find a way out of this craziness,_ Drizella thought to herself, desperation welling up within her. Which came from knowing she'd have to do something desperate, and soon, before this prank warfare got out of hand.

At last, Cinderella wheeled herself away from her table and out of the cafeteria. Soon after she left, Tremaine prepared to do the same. Oddly, she didn't bother touching her tea again. Anastasia, however reached for it, only to receive a slap from their mother.

"Don't," Tremaine snapped. "I heard the little pitter-patter of rodent feet as the princess tried to stare us down, and now I detect the faint aroma of chocolate wafting from the cup. The fool girl thought I'd fall for that trick again, did she?" she grumbled acerbically as she began to wheel herself away, motioning for her daughters to follow. "Seriously, who would be stupid enough to fall for such a ploy?"

Drizella and Anastasia obediently and nervously fell in behind their mother. Shortly after they left, however, someone else stumbled upon their table, and what was left on it.

"Oooh! Someone left their coffee behind!" said the Blob jubilantly, and downed the cup in one gulp.

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With another intestine-liquefaction-inducing incident for Lady Tremaine narrowly avoided, one might be tempted to think that things would be relatively quiet for…well, a few hours at least. But of course, hoping for that would be foolishness on par with expecting Ariel to keep her hoarding habit in check. Oh no, with the ire of these two aroused beyond anything they've ever experienced before, neither were ready to give an inch.

And that went double for their animal companions. As Cinderella and Tremaine went to plot their next moves, their faithful friends sought to keep their respective rivals off-balance. In Lucifer's case, the opportunity came when Cinderella retreated to that courtyard once again to clear her head and formulate a new plan. The beauty of those gardens, and especially the flowers in full bloom, would ease her mind and help her focus, or so that was her hope. Unfortunately, Lucifer found a way to turn that against her, thanks to some contraband confiscated from a poor soul just admitted to the emergency room. Which meant that the flowers Cinderella took the time to sniff…had been sprinkled with powdery crystal meth beforehand. So instead of clearing her head, Cinderella wound up in a drug-induced haze, as she sped around the courtyard at top speed in her wheelchair with wild abandon.

Not that two certain mice were any less devious or brazen. Soon after single-handedly creating Disney's newest anti-drug PSA, Lucifer returned to their hospital room and snuggled up on Tremaine's bed. Tremaine herself, learning that her stepdaughter would be…indisposed for a few hours at least, decided to let a little more rest. Soon, both of them had drifted off, which gave Jaq and Gus an opportunity. With Gadget's Gyro-Tank in perfect working order once more, they used it to adhere to the wall, right behind Tremaine's bed. Anchored there, Gus reached out with a long peacock feather to gently tickle Tremaine's nose. Eventually, he succeeded in making Tremaine slap her own face. Only, instead of shaving cream being put on Tremaine's hand, Jaq had slipped a joy buzzer on her finger. So when Tremaine involuntarily facepalmed, she gave Lucifer and herself a good million-volt wake-up call, one that made their skeletons briefly become visible. Once the shock subsided, they just looked ahead blankly as smoke rose from their soot-covered bodies.

Needless to say, once both women recovered from these affronts, total chaos would erupt when they clashed again, threatening to engulf a good number of other patients. And two dreadfully anxious family members on top of that.

"Oh, what are we gonna do NOW!?" shrieked Anastasia as she paced around the hall. "Once Mother and Cinderella recover, they'll be at it again. And no matter who wins, we're _SCREWED_."

Fighting the urge to slap her sister silly, Drizella grumbled through gritted teeth, "We've still got time to figure something out until they're ready to start trolling each other again. So do us _BOTH_ A favor and try to think of something instead of panicking!"

To Drizella's surprise, Anastasia finally stopping pacing, steadied her breathing, and looked to be doing just that. "OK OK OK, got to think, got to think… Oh, but we're in uncharted territory here! We both know Mother will never let a grudge go, and now Cinderella's getting just as bad! It-It-It's like the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object here, and we can't keep them apart. S-S-S-So maybe…"

For a moment, Drizella actually was hopeful her sister had some sort of plan. But from her facial expression, it was clear her thoughts were drifting elsewhere. "Anastasia, what is it?" Drizella barked acidly.

"I'm not sure," said Anastasia. "Do you hear…some sort of moaning?"

"We're _BOTH_ going to have a lot to moan about once Mother drags us into a new scheme, and Cinderella comes after us all with a vengeance!" spat Drizella. "So if you've got an idea for helping us avoid all that, let's hear it!"

"Well, that's just it. Nothing we do can keep those two from locking horns again," Anastasia finally continued. "So…we just let them."

Drizella just stared blankly back at Anastasia, that urge to slap her rising once more. "We… _WHAT_!?" she demanded incredulously.

"We make sure they butt heads again, but _WE_ arrange how and when," said Anastasia. "They'll be so focused on trying to outwit each other, they may overlook what we try to do. Mother, in particular, figures you'd never _DARE_ cross her. And Cinderella, well, sort of trusts me, and…"

The idea was crazy, plain and simple. But maybe, just maybe, it was crazy enough to work. And anything was preferable to sitting around waiting for their mother and stepsister to recover and drag them into this insanity all over again. If they were forced to dive into their madness, at least let it be on their terms. So Drizella marched forward and grabbed Anastasia by the wrist. "Come on. We got some more planning to do."

"Oh, OK then," said Anastasia timidly as her sister dragged her away. "But I swear, Drizella, I heard some sort of weird moaning back there…"

And indeed, it was more than just Anastasia's imagination. For they had been standing in front of a door to the men's room, one a certain Fred Dukes had lumbered into moments before…

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Biting her lower lip, Anastasia looked down at her stepsister, who was ready to peel out in her wheelchair. Seriously, that stunt Lucifer pulled with those drugs… It was abundantly clear that the physiological impacts had yet to taper off. Cinderella's eyes were still bloodshot, and she looked as if in the throes of a sugar rush. On the bright side, having Cinderella's mind clouded in such a fashion made it easier for her to be suckered. Cinderella was no Moira MacTaggert, but at the same time she was no fool, either. In fact, Anastasia suspected that it might have been impossible to coax Cinderella into this without Lucifer's earlier antics.

"So, that's it?" Cinderella demanded anxiously, hands on her wheels, ready to burn some rubber. "Lady Tremaine's down this hall, being the lookout as Lucifer tries to tamper with the medication dispensing cabinet thing?"

"Uh, yeah," said Anastasia, terrified that something – a slight inflection of her voice, some telltale facial movement – would give her away. There had to be some distrust lingering after that catastrophe with the Blob. Yet Cinderella was barely looking up at her, staring intently down the hallway leading to the nurses' station instead. "So… You got everything you need?"

"Alright, equipment check," muttered Cinderella as she reached behind her for her…primary weapon. "Super-Soaker 300 filled with Hawaiian Punch, check," said Cinderella as she pumped it up. "Boxing glove gun courtesy of Jessica Rabbit, check." Now she pulled out a comically huge revolver that somehow made her look gangsta. "Lasso made from the new girl's hair, check!" A fancy brown lasso that indeed looked like it was made out of absurdly long human hair whipped about above Cinderella.

 _More and more 'care packages'. This better get the both of them to back off each other. Or at least Drizella and I,_ Anastasia mused silently. Out loud, she said, "Then that's everything. Go get her, for both of us!"

Cinderella hardly needed any encouragement, wheeling away at an insane velocity down the hall, not even sparing her stepsister another glance. Which suited Anastasia just fine. It could only mean Cinderella still didn't suspect a thing. But that was only half the equation here.

Slowly, ever so cautiously, Anastasia stepped backward as Cinderella sped away, until she was sure her stepsister wouldn't look back and see her ducking down another path. Hiking up her skirts, Anastasia darted down her route, hoping she wasn't too late.

For once, it seemed luck was with her, for soon she ran into Drizella, who was also clumsily running in her dress. Soon, the two of them came across another scheming figure stuck in a wheelchair. As usual, her gaze held her usual calculating coldness, but other aspects of Tremaine's appearance… That zapping delivered courtesy of those rodents must've been a big one. Not only was their mother's hairstyle comically poofed out, there was some weird facial twitch she was exhibiting as well. Anastasia could only hope a few billion electrons addled her mother's brain as much as the crystal meth messed up her stepsister's. "It's about time you two showed up!" Tremaine snapped acerbically. "So, what's the emergency?"

Anastasia felt her throat closing up due to terror, but thankfully, Drizella came to the rescue. "Anastasia was just talking to Cinderella, and the idiot let it slip that she's going to have those vermin mess with your medications while she distracts the nurses, "Drizella said quickly.

Their mother could only glower up at them for a moment, but when she spoke, a fiery hatred as great as ever lurked underneath that cool, silky voice. "Oh, she does, does she? It's a good thing I'm here then. No time to wait for Lucifer to arrive, and you two… Leave this to me, no room for screw-ups!" Then she dug into the seat of her wheelchair to check on a couple of items. Cinderella wasn't the only one getting 'care packages' in anticipation of an escalating war. But Anastasia couldn't keep herself from widening her eyes as she pulled out one of the Queen of Hearts's FLAMINGO CROQUETS from her wheelchair!

"Croquet mallet, that crossbow from that one vulture boy, the captain's spare hook… Yes, I do believe your stepsister is about to run into…COMPLICATIONS." The venom in that last word sent shivers up Anastasia's spine, but thankfully, just like Cinderella, her mother didn't spare her another glance as she headed for the nurse station. When Tremaine finally rounded a corner and was out of sight, Anastasia exhaled forcefully, not even realizing she was holding her breath.

"Well miracles do happen. They both fell for it!" Drizella exclaimed, their plan finally coming together.

"Where…was she hiding the flamingo?" was all Anastasia could get out.

"Who knows? Who cares?" Drizella shot back. "The important thing is, now they'll be so laser-focused on each other, no time to drag us into anything!"

That, at least, brought a smile to Anastasia's face, and they fist-bumped in triumph. A triumphant feeling that was short lived, as doubts still plagued Anastasia. "But Drizella, you sure there won't be any…fallout?"

"Fallout schmallout," Drizella spat dismissively. "What's the worst they can do over there?"

Drizella got her answer as the lights flickered a moment, the exact same moment that blood-curdling screams of terror echoed from the nurse station. But none of those voices belonged to Tremaine or Cinderella. And if they were screaming bloody murder at each other, their voices were drowned out by crashing sounds, more electronics shorting out, and what sounded suspiciously like drywall being smashed through. And then, all of a sudden, ominous silence.

A silence reciprocated by Anastasia and Drizella themselves for a moment. "D'you think, we should go check on them?" Anastasia suggested delicately.

"Uhh, sis, the idea was to get them _OUT_ of our faces," Drizella reminder her. "C'mon, let's go get some dinner."

And so, the two of them left the disaster area, not sparing their mother nor their stepsister another thought. They also didn't think too much about the moans _STILL_ coming from a certain men's room passed along the way…

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Dead silence lingered at the nurse station for a considerable stretch, but that was hardly surprising since Cinderella and Lady Tremaine were the only ones hanging around there. And what is meant by 'hanging around'… It's in the most literal sense possible. Seriously, Johnson & Johnson needs to cut a deal with a soon-to-be Disney Princess inductee regarding whatever she uses for her hair. The lasso she formed with it for Cinderella… At the moment, it had looped around several sprinkler units in the ceiling. And now, both Cinderella and her stepmother were out of their wheelchair, trapped and suspended by the hair lasso, twirling about uselessly with faces full of impotent rage.

That wasn't all. Cinderella also had an arrow and a hook lodged into the cast of her right lower leg. Neither penetrated too deeply, but some blood trickled out. Lady Tremaine, meanwhile, on top of being drenched in some red liquid that fortunately wasn't blood, was getting what would certainly be a nasty black eye by the evening. And to add insult to injury, one of the… items she brought to this battle of wits, the flamingo, was busy licking at her Hawaiian Punch-soaked hospital robe.

And so, the two of them kept dangling from the ceiling like piñatas for quite a while. Sparks flew from some of the computers, showering onto a plethora of overturned carts and scattered documents. Until, finally, Cinderella broke the silence in what was perhaps the most irascible tone anyone ever heard from the princess. "You know stepmother, I do believe there is sufficient evidence for the theory that we were both snookered."

"Indeed," replied Tremaine tonelessly as she feebly tried to kick the flamingo away. "We were so focused on each other, we never anticipated treachery from those we believed firmly in our respective camp. But on some level, I do have to give my daughters some credit for their brazenness. I never thought they'd BOTH have the courage to cross BOTH of us."

"I think we can agree they learned from the best," Cinderella said sharply, just as she was turning in midair to come face-to-face with her stepmother again. "So what now? Do we call this escapade in the hospital a draw, or is this just a temporary setback for both of us in the overall war?"

"Hmmmm, when blinded by pride, one typically doesn't contemplate the totality of mutually assured destruction until it's staring you in the face," Tremaine said thoughtfully as the flamingo kept lapping away.

"Well, I've already let my own newfound vindictive streak go a tad too far," Cinderella fired back. "But where we're hanging now, it's hard to imagine things blowing up in both our faces any worse…"

And on cue, right after tempting fate in such a blithe manner, the nurse station, no the entire hospital, had an ominous rumbling go through it. Cinderella and Tremaine could only stare at each other in confusion as they continued to dangle uselessly from the ceiling. Which meant they were helpless to save themselves from karma catching up to the both of them (and screwing over everyone else) in the form of the hospital's septic tank going completely FUBAR. Which resulted in raw sewage exploding everywhere throughout the facility. And considering the two of them were hanging around sinks at the nurse station, a considerable amount geysered up under them, drenching the both of them in unspeakable foulness.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So that's it?" Vanellope asked incredulously. "The whole thing ended in a stalemate after things _LITERALLY_ went to [TRUCK HORN] at that hospital?"

"Language…" chided Melody under her breath.

Figuring her goal was accomplished, given that all the children had been enraptured by her tale up until its very end, Cinderella had no problem answering in the affirmative. "Well, after the two of us inadvertently set off the domino effect leading to the obliteration of the hospital's septic system, the staff was _QUITE_ eager to discharge the both of us the following day."

"So yeah, stalemate. Neither of you really won? That's kinda a…disappointing ending," said Cubby.

"So that means nothing was settled between you and your stepfamily, right?" asked Nibs.

"It's…hard to say," Cinderella admitted. "The last time we all saw each other was during the screening of our live-action reboot movie. And it was weird. It was as if my stepmother was trying to be supportive in her own way…"

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Just over a year ago, at a red carpet screening of their live-action movie, Cinderella had deigned to sit next to her stepfamily, with Jaq and Gus on her shoulders. By then, the memories of how she had been beaten to a pulp, consumed with petty resentment, and reeking of ass from getting blasted with untreated sewage, had mostly faded. Lady Tremaine, for her part, finally seemed reluctant to bring up old grudges as well. And to Cinderella's astonishment, when Tremaine's ire did flare up, it was not directed at her, or even her counterpart on the big screen.

"Good heavens, how did the production team get away with such horrid CGI design for those rodents!?" Tremaine suddenly bellowed at the movie screen. "You can easily tell those vermin aren't real! Why are we the only ones who have to put up with the indignity of such putrid CGI models for rodents, and…"

Tremaine was cut off when a slice of pizza struck her in the back of her head, making Tremaine curse under her breath and Lucifer growl in her lap. Cinderella and Tremaine both looked up to the upper levels, and immediately saw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles glowering down at them. Cinderella could only blush with embarrassment, and Tremaine could only utter, "Oh, point taken…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Turtle power, indeed," said Melody dryly.

"So again, what was the point of all that?" asked one of the twins. "You get stuck in a hospital, play some pranks on each other, then call a cease-fire and both go your merry way?"

"Yeah, I thought there was a moral to this story," added the other twin.

"Obviously, the moral is that if you try too hard to fit in with what a changing world seems to force you into becoming, you set yourself up for pain. And parts of a giant robot falling on you," Melody offered. "And when you let anger you thought you had under control consume you, well, no one wins."

"Long story short, you start [TRUCK HORN] for no reason, the [TRUCK HORN] finds its way back to you," Vanellope summed up for Melody.

"Language!" bellowed all the other children.

At this point, Cinderella didn't care how much foulness rolled off the young princess's tongue. At least Vanellope seemed to get the point, even if her summation for the others was a bit too simplistic. So Cinderella decided to elaborate. "In essence, Vanellope is correct. I and so many others feared that by the Marvels becoming part of our world, our old attitudes and beliefs no longer had any relevance. So I pushed too far, got myself hurt, and then because of a changing world, I felt I had to restart old fights. Leading to a war neither side would really win. It was a hard lesson to learn, but I believe I've emerged the better for it. And as a reminder, I had a painting made of a certain photograph." After pointing to the far wall, all the children turned to see a huge painting depicting Deadpool taking a selfie with a certain flummoxed and battered princess.

"I wonder, did anything with those Star Wars guys get as messy as what went wrong in that hospital?" Tootles suddenly asked.

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As fate would have it, Baymax had gotten hold of a lightsaber, and the poor robot seemed baffled by the device. He examined it up close, shook it around, but then realized there was a button on it, so he pushed it. Unfortunately, with the way one end was pointing, right toward his abdomen, which ensured Baymax was…

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"Let's just say that not as much hot air was blown around, but some still was," Cinderella said quickly with a look of exasperation. "So then, children, any other questions?"

Vanellope brightened up, which instantly made Cinderella a little anxious. And that anxiety proved quite justified, for she then asked, "Yeah, do they still do that princess boxing thing?"

Cinderella's face fell all over again. "Unfortunately, yes," was all Cinderella could mutter.

"Aww, don't sound so down about that," said Melody. "After what happened the night you stepped into the ring, how bad could any other bout be in comparison?"

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Perhaps Melody would get her answer sooner than anyone thought, for at the House of Mouse, the next such bout was already underway. Deep into the seventh round in fact, and the frizzled red hair and braided red pigtails were flying. Turnout hit a record high that night as patrons from across multiverses came to see Merida and Anna pummel each other's faces into mince. And so far, neither were disappointing. Goofy, still the ref for the bouts, kept a considerable distance as the princesses let each other have it. Merida got in a couple good jabs into Anna's face before the latter could bring her gloves up to block the punches. The freespirited Scot kept up the flurry of punches as the princess of Arendelle desperately kept her guard up, but then Anna found an opening, delivering a vicious body blow to Merida. Staggering back, Merida was wide open for more, and Anna unleashed a whole barrage of punches that had Merida up against the ropes. But unfortunately for her, the bell sounded to end the round and Goofy broke them up.

Both princesses retreated to their respective corners. Still groggy from such a vicious pounding to the face, Anna staggered as she fell back into her chair. Olaf was there with her spit-bucket, while Kristoff massaged her shoulders. Likewise, Merida's parents were there for their daughter in the other corner, prepping her for the next grueling round. But alas, where were those carrot-top triplets that are constitutionally incapable of not causing trouble, or a certain Snow Queen the world just can't seem to get enough of?

In the case of the latter, Elsa was actually seated at a private table quite close to the ring, not looking as interested as one might expect, considering her little sister's face was getting tenderized like a slab of beef. But hey, conceal don't feel and all that. However, it looked as if Elsa would soon have bigger concerns anyway, considering Harris, Hubert and Hamish had just snuck under her table. As Elsa took a big gulp of soda, they were setting up a portable heating unit. Given how Elsa's dress was woven from ice, well… Suffice it to say, it looked as if a good many fanboys' dream was about to come true.

That is, if the last person anyone would expect to thwart such a prank hadn't intervened right then and there. Appearing as if from nowhere, Deadpool swooped under the table. With one thrust of his katana, he slid the blade through the triplets' outfits in such a way as to be able to hoist them all up without slicing their backsides, and stab through the heater to boot. And before Elsa could grasp what was going on, the merc with a mouth moved in, slinging his free arm over Elsa's shoulder while still dangling the triplets over the floor with his katana.

"Greetings, my dear frigid royal," said Deadpool as he nuzzled his head close to Elsa's, who was still holding onto a mouthful of unswallowed soda. Her anxiousness from Deadpool's dismissal of the concept of personal space was a palpable thing, so she probably didn't notice the bell for the eighth round going off. "Yeh yeah, I know. Surprised I decided to forego the chance to see how pointy that ice dress really makes your nipples? I can do without. Personally, I'm more enticed by the idea of you impaling my cancer-addled carcass with those ice stilettos someday in a Marvel vs. Capcom sequel. Provided those suits at Disney DON'T NIX ALL THE X-MEN CHARACTERS!" exclaimed Deadpool, pointing right at the viewer as he said that. Elsa still just sat there with Deadpool looming so close, the soda still in her mouth. "Anyway, let's get back to a night of seeing your sister get a black eye or two, Your Highness," Deadpool added, followed up by what was supposed to be a friendly slap on the back.

Unfortunately, that friendly gesture caused Elsa to down that mouthful of soda in exactly the wrong way. Elsa's eyes bulged out, followed swiftly by her hands flying in front of her mouth. Ultimately, she was forced to let a certain something go. A hiccup escaped Elsa's lips, followed by a loud belch, one punctuated by an uncontrollable burst of icy power blasting out of her mouth, right at the ring. Merida and Anna were busy beating each other's faces in again. But the bout was interrupted by an icy stalagmite erupting from the center of the ring and splitting it apart, making both princesses stagger back and fall flat on their asses.

For a moment, Anna could only look up at the pillar of ice jutting up from the ring, a dumbfounded look on her face. When she pulls her gaze away from it, her expression changed to one of dull disbelief. Elsa's hiccups weren't stopping, and each one caused her to belch out one icy blast after another. "Oh really, we gotta to go through this AGAIN!?" she cried out in exasperation.

And the entire House of Mouse was forced to evacuate, patrons screaming and fleeing in terror, as one gigantic, spiky pillar of ice after another erupted from within to punctuate one hiccup-belch after another.

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Think that's the end? Well, technically, it is. But there's one last thing to get across, and ironically, the place it happened is a certain Snow Queen's personal getaway spot. Yep, Elsa's ice palace was still standing, and the front door slowly creaked open. However, instead of Marshmallow or the Snowgies coming out, instead we see, of all people, Deadpool. And in typical Deadpool fashion, he looked right at the viewers, fourth wall be damned.

"Surprised to see me?" Deadpool asked coyly. "Don't be. Turns out a certain Snow Queen rents this place out as a vacation resort or something to a similar effect. Just glad I bought my pass before Sodaghazi. And hey, those little snow-booger things provide better room service than you may think."

For a moment, Deadpool just stared at the viewers in profound silence, before picking up with the mile-a-minute chatter again. "Anyway, care to explain why the [TRUCK HORN] you people are still here? Why do I gotta keep telling you to not expect teasers for the next whatever? Seriously, you expect the author to have a follow-up for THIS!? This one-shot gagfest that was literally inspired by a Sylvester and Tweety cartoon? It's a minor miracle that Cinderella got one official sequel, let alone TWO."

And with that, Deadpool went back into the palace, and the front door almost slammed shut. But at the last minute, Deadpool poked his head back out. "But as for what this author would like to do next… Well, I can spill a little secret. Turns out he's had an idea for a Sailor Moon/X-Men crossover percolating for about a decade, and 2017 is when he's finally resolved to start it. I'd grill him about taking his sweet time, but hey, look how long it took for yours truly to slice and dice his way to the big screen. No word yet if yours truly will be mingling with those fuku-clad schoolgirls get. But I can be…persuasive," Deadpool said, pulling out a Desert Eagle to emphasize his point. "In the meantime…"

Deadpool was interrupted by a sharp, commanding cry from deep within Elsa's palace. One that would sound disturbingly familiar to Disney aficionados. "WILSON! Get your charred and scarred butt back in here at once!"

"Coming, Maleficent!" Deadpool called back before turning back to the viewers one last time. "No need for touching myself tonight. Boom chicka wah-wah," he proudly declared as he raised his eyebrows. And then the palace doors finally slammed shut.

THE END, MOTHER[TRUCK HORN]ERS


End file.
